In One Word, Then in Three
by Believe-in-Teyla
Summary: Post DH/sans epilogue. Imagine a world where the gang do their 7th year post-war during which Hermione goes crazy, Ron makes several mistakes and Draco changes a lot . String in Salazar Slytherin's past & you've got some Dramione goodness!
1. Cake

**Chapter One**

Returning to classes after a year hiding out and hunting Horcruxes and Hallows was certainly not the easiest thing Hermione Granger had ever attempted.

Suddenly being required to write six-foot-long essays on Arithmancy patterns, brew complicated Truth Potions and also deal with both peculiar and repetitive duties as Head Girl should have been simple for Hermione to get used to all over again. However, every time she opened a book she had the feeling in her stomach that it was _The Tales of Beetle the Bard_ all over again – more tedious clues from Dumbledore, more useless information as to how they might eventually defeat the darkest wizard of the age.

Attending meals in the Great Hall weren't even the same. As she sat there, she could picture the house elves directly below, slicing the backs of Death Eater's ankles with massive stainless steal knives.

The war was still haunting her. The fear, the battle and the losses still washed through her every vein, making it difficult for her to fully concentrate, fully accept that Lord Voldemort was not going to glide through the common room entrance and send the killing curse at her.

Hermione's quill quivered in her shaking hands and she immediately dropped it in order to regain composure. The ink blotted on the parchment but Hermione did not take notice.

It had been three months. Having returned to school for her seventh year (a Ministry order that had been decided upon a week after Voldemort's downfall), Hermione had noticed that a lot of students had already adjusted to life after the war. Most were happy and others acted like that part of their lives had all been a long dream and had never happened at all. Hermione had observed the behaviour of many and it seemed that she was the only one who was suffering in the aftermath.

Harry, who had been through so much before and after the war, seemed much lighter at heart. He had taken to making more jokes and laughing loudly with Ron and his girlfriend Ginny. Hermione knew that the lives lost during the war were still firmly in his head and his heart but he did not let it show the way she felt she did. Hermione assumed that perhaps his experience with the resurrection stone had eased the sadness.

Ron had also moved on. He and Hermione had begun their long-awaited relationship as soon as Voldemort fell. However, due to Hermione's distance, it had been slightly rocky. Ron seemed to understand that Hermione was having trouble adjusting and he allowed her time alone to study and think. They still kissed on greeting for breakfast and they still had regular snogging sessions in the Head Boy and Girl common room.

Yes, this common room was one of the surprises Hermione had been greeted with in returning to Hogwarts.

While the professors had wandered the castle during the summer, restoring it to its magical splendor, they had found Salazar Slytherin's old study and in it they had found an ancient map and three silver stones. With them, Professor's McGonagall and Flitwick managed to locate Salazar Slytherin's old quarters.

It was in these quarters that Hermione now sat. The ancient furniture that had stood in the common room and the four adjoining rooms had been replaced with those of a more modern design and the teachers had decided to make the quarters the home of the two top students of the school: Hermione and Draco Malfoy.

Hermione still could not understand how Draco Malfoy – after all his involvement in the war - had come to receive the Head Boy badge, but he had. Perhaps it was yet another standing legacy in Dumbledore's will. He had, after all, always seemed to know that Draco had been frightened into supporting the Dark Side. And Draco was intelligent and a strong leader, even if Hermione despised admitting it.

Hermione looked up as the bathroom door opened and the man of her thoughts walked out in his weekend clothes. His silver-blonde hair was damp and neat on top of his head, perfectly combed and shampooed. He gave Hermione a nod before heading up the wide spiral staircase that stood in the corner of the room.

Hermione sighed. He had not made an attempt to talk to her, nor had he managed an insult. He just wandered around, quietly studied and made little acknowledgement of her presence. Although this did not bother Hermione she had to wonder whether he was adjusting to the aftermath of the war as uselessly as her.

**_ooo_**

Hermione sat with her back against the arm of the couch, enjoying the comfort of the fluffy emerald cushions that lined it. She was stretched out with her legs resting on top of Ron's, the owner of which sat beside her. All was quiet, as Hermione read from one of the many ancient tomes that had lined the bookshelf in Salazar's study.

"I don't get why McGonagall wants you and Malfoy to do this research," Ron muttered. He was in one of those moods where he could not accept something and was trying, by means of complaining, to have Hermione agree with him.

"We're the Head Girl and Boy, Ron," Hermione replied. "The teachers don't get the time to do this research so they've asked us to attempt to fit it in with our studies. Besides, both Malfoy and I showed an interest in the subject. Imagine if we found out something really exciting and interesting about Slytherin or one of the other founders? Our doing this research might finally answer the question of whether Salazar Slytherin was the father of Helena Ravenclaw –"

"Who really cares?" Ron asked, disgruntled. Hermione went quiet and looked back down at her book, not wanting to start an argument with the agitated redhead. He crawled closer to her. "Hermione, we don't spend much time together anymore because of these quarters and now with an extra project –"

"Ron, please understand that if I don't help with this research I will regret it, okay?" Hermione asked quietly. "I'm _really_ interested in this."

"Okay," Ron sighed and he too fell quiet as Hermione reached forward and grabbed a silver stone from the side table to examine it against a sketch in the book she was reading.

"_Salazar's stones_," Hermione murmured and she turned the page.

**_ooo_**

Two weeks following the start of school saw Hermione's mood having changed very little. There had been nights where every time she attempted to look over her studies or the research regarding Salazar Slytherin, she would find herself in a daze, watching the war flash before her eyes.

Hermione was sure that Draco had noticed by now. Several times she had gone faint while looking at him, the image of his frightened face obscuring her vision.

"_I … maybe … yeah…"_

The words filled her head and she was forced to look away, suddenly shaky as she remembered what had followed soon after those words had left Draco's mouth. She felt the blood pounding in her head as her mind relived the pain she had experienced that night, Bellatrix's humored but angry face, Lucius Malfoy's light chuckle, Draco's ghostly pale face framing his wide and terrified eyes…

It always took time before Hermione could look at him again and when she did he was watching her carefully with an unreadable expression on his face. He never questioned her. In fact, he was yet to direct a single word to her regarding anything other than the research they were conducting.

Quite frankly, she was happy for it.

However, the silence of Draco Malfoy did not go on forever. On the evening of her birthday Hermione invited Harry, Ron and Ginny over to share the cake Mrs Weasley had sent. As the words of "Happy birthday to you…" rang throughout the common room, Malfoy chose that moment to head through the entrance into the scene of a giant homemade cake, 19 candles burning multi-coloured flames and four humorous birthday hats.

He walked straight through to the bathroom door and locked himself in. When he submerged, Harry, Ginny and half the cake was gone leaving one moaning Ronald Weasley and a Hermione whose head looked like it would be crushed between the couch and Ron's lips.

"Her room's upstairs Weasley," Draco sneered. "Go breed mudblood spawn up there."

Ron broke away from her and raised his wand in seconds. He stood with it pointing straight at Draco's face. "Say that word again and I'll make it so you'll _never_ reproduce, Malfoy!"

Hermione stood up calmly and put her hand on Ron's arm. "Ron, just go," her voice was soft but Draco still heard it.

Ron looked at her, then back at Malfoy, opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it. With a small but sloppy kiss to Hermione's lips he left, leaving Hermione looking at Draco with an irritated expression.

"Why didn't you just keep your mouth shut, Malfoy?" Hermione snapped. "We weren't doing anything to hurt you. You were probably just going to go straight up to your room anyway!"

"I was doing him a favour," Draco sneered. "You'd obviously confunded him in order to make him want you. Even Weasley wouldn't be attracted to likes of you, _Mudblood_."

Hermione looked at the ground, willing the hurt away and concentrating on the anger she had felt moments before. She would not let him get her down. Not now.

"You have no right to insult me or Ron, Malfoy," she said weakly, looking him straight in the eye once more. "You are perhaps worse then us in comparison. After everything last year, after everything you did, everything you saw –"

But Draco was gone. Hermione nodded to herself as she watched the back of his blonde head disappear up the stairs.

Returning to her cake, Hermione soon fell asleep where she dreamt of fierce, murderous flames in a massive hall, two broomsticks and Ron's voice screaming "IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I'LL KILL YOU!"

The next day dawned with Malfoy sitting across from her on the second couch, a piece of her cake in hand.

"Morning, Granger," he said as he greedily took another bite.

Hermione sat up. "I didn't say you could have any of that," she stated bluntly.

"No but it was waiting there so patiently, screaming my name," Draco's voice was lighter than Hermione had ever heard it.

Hermione contemplated the young man across from her. "So you're being civil now?" she questioned.

"Civil? Granger, if you walked in on me kissing a Weasley you'd have been as disgusted as I was last night," Draco drawled.

"Funny, I thought you were disgusted by the image of someone kissing a _mudblood_ not a Weasley," Hermione stated blandly. "Or has your opinion of witches like me suddenly changed over night?"

"I don't like Weasleys," Draco snarled. "He would never have saved Goyle and me in the Room of Hidden Things last year had Potter not decided to."

"Nor would you have saved any of us," Hermione snapped. "Might I remind you that you went in there to capture us so you could then hand us to Voldemort? You had killing curses sent at us, Malfoy! You wanted us dead!"

Hermione didn't even realize she had stood up. She glared down at him. "You went in there with the intention of having us killed! Ron Weasley is much a greater man than you will ever be, Malfoy. He stopped to pick up Goyle even if he didn't like the idea much. I highly doubt you would have done the same had we been the ones on the ground."

Hermione headed to the bathroom door, swung it open and let it slam behind her, her school robes already on the floor. Draco watched the door for a moment, contemplating following her to continue the argument. He decided against it, knowing she would be undressed by now and knowing that he wasn't entirely ready for a heated argument with a fiery, naked Hermione Granger. She would be positively murderous.

He instead cut himself another piece of cake.


	2. Crazy

**Chapter Two**

Hermione wandered the school in a heated temper. Why Malfoy chose to get to her the way he did she didn't know. She did not see her being a muggleborn as a viable excuse, nor could she see it merely being because she was friends with Harry and Ron. No, she honestly thought he had taken to firing her up because either he was bored, he preferred conversing with her when she was angry or she was in some way the object of his cruel entertainment.

Several weeks had passed since she had nearly taken the bathroom door off its hinges in her temper. He had continued to insult her and her friends, make cruel comments and just in general annoy the hell out of her. She was so completely sick and tired of it that she had taken to walking the halls in the hours between dinner and Draco's scheduled evening shower time. She would then sneak into the study, grab as many of Salazar Slytherin's books as she could carry and take them to her room to read.

Her room was by far her favourite place to be. It was at the very top of the long-winding staircase, directly opposite Draco's. It was decorated in Gryffindor's scarlet and gold and she was positively in love with the King-size bed and the silk bed linen that completed it. The room had a large armchair in one corner while in another stood a large oak desk. The entire right wall as you entered the room was made of glass, with a door heading out to the massive balcony that she and Draco shared between their rooms.

Hermione took _Volume III_ of Salazar's journal from her stack and had just begun reading when suddenly her bedroom door opened to reveal Ron.

"Ron?" she questioned. "How did you get in here?"

"I – Malfoy let me in," Ron said. "The git told me you weren't here."

"Well I'm usually not," Hermione said. "Not while he is, anyway."

Ron frowned. "But where do you go?" he asked. "You never come and see me –"

"Ron, I just need time to think sometimes," Hermione said, not really meaning to interrupt. "I've been having a lot of nightmares lately and sometimes…"

Ron gathered her in his arms. "What, Hermione? Sometimes _what_?"

"Sometimes I don't want people to tell me that it'll be okay or that I should stop thinking about it," Hermione replied in a soft voice. "I hate the ones about last year the most," she added, "and the weird dreams about Malfoy –"

"What weird dreams about Malfoy?" Ron asked quickly.

"Oh – nothing like that, Ron!" Hermione cried hurriedly. "No – I – Well, I have dreams about the times when we saw him last year, the looks on his face, the situation where we saved him. I –"

"What about it?" Ron scoffed, moving away from her. "He's an ungrateful git. We saved his life – twice I might add – and he's never done a single thing to say thank you. He still insults you and picks on my family and bullies Harry."

"I think he wears a mask, Ron," Hermione said very lightly, only realizing it herself as she was saying it. He could barely hear her. "I think he only does that because that's what we expect him to do. Ron, there's been times when he has attempted to be civil and I snapped down his throat, defending myself too quickly. Ron, I think maybe the war has affected him like –"

"Like it's affected you?" Ron snapped. "You think he's gone crazy like you have?"

"Crazy?!" Hermione didn't mean for her retort to be so loud. "The war has affected me greatly, yes! I can't adjust the way you and Harry and everyone else have! I'm still having nightmares! I'm still feeling the pain of the Cruciatus Curse! But that does not make me _crazy_!"

"But you're defending Malfoy!" Ron cried loudly. "You're basically saying he deserves a second chance! He wanted us killed, Hermione!"

Hermione went silent, remembering how she had accused Malfoy of the same thing to his own face. "Yes, yes he did," Hermione said. "Now, Ron, if you would please leave; I have some research to conduct."

Ron sat there silently for a moment as Hermione went back to Slytherin's journal. "I don't really think you're crazy," he said softly. He snuggled closer to her on the bed. "Hermione, I love you."

Hermione looked up and nodded before kissing him. Yes, she thought she might just love him too.

"Prat," she whispered as Ron broke away and wove his hand around her waist, laying her down so her head rested on the pillows.

After several minutes of more kissing, Hermione moved Ron's hand out from under her t-shirt. "I really need to do some research tonight, Ron," she said.

Ron nodded and sat up, straightening his shirt and calming his breath. "Just give me a moment."

As Ron headed out, she heard the door across the landing close with a slam. Hermione continued her reading in peace.

**_ooo_**

Two weeks later and Hermione was in a panic. Ron had not returned to her room since that night. True, they saw each other during classes and exchanged quick kisses at meals but Ron seemed to not want to come and spend a moment in Hermione's quarters. She did not know why and when she asked, he merely shrugged and said he'd had lots of Quidditch practice.

Hermione wasn't quite sure she believed it.

"Maybe he's gone elsewhere for a shag, Granger," Draco announced one afternoon as he came down the stairs to the common room where she had been sitting.

Hermione groaned. She could have sworn she had heard the water running in the bathroom.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" she said, her tone clearly showing that she was annoyed.

"Weasley," Draco said. "You've had that look on your face for days and as I haven't seen Weasley's ugly face bopping around here for a couple of weeks I'd say he's the reason."

"That's very observant of you," Hermione snapped. "Though, you are entirely wrong. Ron and I are _fine_."

"No you're not," Draco smirked. "He thinks you're crazy."

Hermione looked at Draco with narrowed eyes. "You had no right to listen to that conversation, Malfoy!"

"Listen to it?" Draco smirked. "It was kind of hard to block out – I'm quite sure that my fellow Slytherins would have heard it from the dungeons." He put on an imitation of Ron's anger, "'_But you're defending Malfoy!_'"

The atmosphere changed. Hermione's anger deflated and her cheeks flushed pink. "Well yes I suppose we were rather loud," she said quietly.

A moment of silence passed, Hermione returning to the journal that lay open in her hands. Despite trying, she was having awful trouble concentrating on it.

"I can look after myself, Granger," Draco stated calmly after a while.

Hermione looked up only to see his feet disappear up the stairs, leaving her to ponder for the hundredth time how anyone could ever come to understand Draco Malfoy.

**_ooo_**

"But Malfoy, all these stones seem to do is reveal secret entrances to places Slytherin wanted to keep secret," Hermione argued as she and Draco flipped through book after book together. "We know that all three of them open up this room. We know that none of them work on the Chamber of Secrets but it has its own defenses anyway and you've already tried them in the Slytherin Common Room –"

"What about inside the Chamber?" Draco questioned. "Maybe Slytherin had a secret room within a secret room?"

"There is really no logic in that, Malfoy," Hermione responded bluntly. "The Chamber of Secrets was the biggest of all Sltherin's secrets. What would he have possibly have wanted to hide in a secret room that's been built within a secret room?"

"A nest of hibernating Basilisk eggs perhaps?"

Hermione felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought. "I doubt that very much, Malfoy."

"Ok, so maybe the stones do something else?" Malfoy contemplated, looking at a sketch in one of the many books they had out. "There's plenty of legend surrounding stones of great magical ability – the Philosopher's Stone, the Babel Stone, the –"

"Resurrection stone," Hermione murmured.

"- I'd heard of the Stones of Salazar, or Salazar's Stones, for years," Draco said. "There were stories of them killing Mudbloods if they touched them. Other stories were a little bit more in depth such as the one about separating magic from a soul. Salazar Slytherin always spoke of wanting his power to be preserved after he had died and many believed that he used three stones of shining platinum to capture and incase his powers at death so he would live on, immortal."

Hermione shivered as she tried to block out the memory that threatened to surface within her mind as Draco spoke that final word.

Large statues of serpents flashed before her, the rotten remains of a massive snake caused her stomach to churn in familiarity, a writhing, screaming golden cup and then, so clearly, she could see Ron's shining blue eyes as they looked at her, delightedly, followed immediately by the vision of a towering stone statue of a man.

Hermione looked at Draco who was watching her with a frown. "Are you having one of those crazy moments again?" he questioned. Hermione did not respond in any way. "Not thinking about Weasley are you?"

This time Hermione shook her head lightly. "I just …" she trailed off and shook her head more vigorously. "I'm fine."

Draco sat back in his armchair, his arms folded, and contemplated her for a moment. He watched her as she straightened her pile of books, her breath becoming even once more. After a moment she sat up, looking her usual self once more. She saw Draco watching her and blinked.

"I think you may be on to something," Hermione stated as though nothing had interrupted. "Salazar Slytherin used these stones to preserve life and he probably thought life could not exist without power so he discovered a way to keep his power alive."

Hermione lifted one of the stones, waved it across the top of a vase that sat empty on the side table beside her, it glowed red before it filled with water, another wave and she saw a vision of beast-like flames within the contents.

She looked at Draco as they disappeared, stood and left the room.

Draco looked back at the vase and waited. The image of the fiendfyre had disappeared and he saw nothing but still water. Leaning back in his chair once more he listened carefully for the sound of Hermione moving around in her room upstairs.

He could have sworn that he heard a sob travel down the stairs.


	3. Betrayal

**Chapter Three**

Professor McGonagall had been very impressed by the first report regarding what Draco and Hermione had discovered and theorized during their research. She had requested that they continue researching on the basis of proving their theories and Draco and Hermione had agreed with fervent nods that they would do so.

Each of them found the project at hand very fascinating and although they could not assume that all their elaborate theories were true, they were each excited about broadening their search for factual information that would either prove or disprove the theories.

Hermione sat in the study one Thursday night while Draco was on his Head duties, reading over their notes. _Volume VI_ of Salazar Slytherin's Journal was open in her lap to a page regarding Rowena Ravenclaw's personal crisis. She had been so engrossed in what was in front of her that she hadn't heard the 3 separate knocks on the portrait entrance.

She was startled back to reality when she heard Ron's voice.

"You in there, Hermione?" he called. "Hermione, can you let me in?"

Hermione paused after listening to his call. It had been over a month since Ron had come to see her in her quarters and to tell the truth, she was a little suspicious as to why he had suddenly decided to grace her with his presence.

"Coming, Ron," she called back, getting out of her chair and heading to the portrait. Raising one of Salazar's silver stones, she waved it across the portrait. The portrait faded immediately to reveal an entrance and a freshly groomed Ron.

Hermione opened her mouth to ask him why he was there when he suddenly launched himself at her and she was cut off mid-gasp by his urgent lips. Several minutes of frantic kisses later, Hermione placed both hands on his chest, wound her fingers into the fabric of his robes and pushed him away, her hands still holding him.

"Malfoy's not here is he?" Ron asked anxiously, looking around. "I saw him up on the seventh floor as I made my way down here. I know he can't have gotten back here already…"

"He's not here," Hermione said calmly. "But I have to ask why you suddenly found me interesting enough to visit."

Ron looked uneasy. "I've had Quidditch practice," he mumbled.

"Every night for over a month?" Hermione exclaimed. "I know Harry takes Quidditch serious but Ginny sees him plenty –"

"Well she's on the team, isn't she?" Ron said, avoiding his girlfriend's eyes.

"Oh yes because they always get a chance to shag while all you idiots are flying around them –"

"Harry and Ginny are shagging?!" Ron yelped. "I'll kill him."

"_No!_" Hermione exclaimed. "I don't believe they are but Quidditch isn't a good enough excuse this time I'm afraid Ron! Why don't you come here any more?"

"Well I've - er –" Hermione waited patiently, loosening her grip slightly. "I've got something to tell you," Ron finally said. "I love you, Hermione, but you know Lavender – she gets a bit possessive and – well –"

"Well?" Hermione asked. Her heart had leapt into her throat. She swallowed and tried to calm her breathing. He was _not_ going to say what she thought he was going to say. Her mind pleaded they he wouldn't say it.

"She kissed me, Hermione," Ron said. "A month ago. And I felt guilty so I've sort of been – er –"

"Avoiding me?"

"Yeah," he said, looking uneasy. "But Hermione, it was just one kiss. She just sort of came at me."

The tears that were slowly creeping down Hermione's cheeks were silent. She held back the sobs and tried to process this news rationally.

"I didn't want to kiss her," Ron continued in a panic. "I – Hermione, I love you so much; I would never do something to hurt you –"

"Please just – just _leave_, Ron," Hermione asked in a trembling whisper.

Ron stood there for a moment, watching her. "I pushed her away when I realized what I was doing –"

"_Please_, Ron," Hermione pleaded hopelessly. "Leave. I'll – I'll see you later."

Ron let a single tear fall from his eyes before he turned and proceeded out.

Hermione stood silently for what felt like hours, though it was probably only a few minutes. Her entire body was numb with what Ron had just told her and she honestly did not know how to process it. As the tears silently continued to fall, Hermione rushed up to her room and immediately proceeded out onto the balcony where she broke down against the balcony's edge.

She thought wildly of how Ron would have responded to Lavender, how long it would've taken him to realize just how wrong the situation was. Had it only been the once? Why had he chosen not to tell her before now? Why had he chosen to avoid her like he had?

Slowly, she began to calm; her breathing was becoming more even and the tears slowly stopped flowing. She vaguely heard a door open and then close nearby but she did not acknowledge it.

"I would have expected you to be out here with Weasley." Even without looking at him, Hermione knew he was smirking. "Or has the weasel gone and found someone else to mate with instead?"

Hermione felt tears well in her eyes once more but she willed them to not fall. Turning around to face Draco, she saw the smirk fall from his face as he took in her teary eyes. He hesitantly came up to stand by the edge of the balcony with her, though he kept some distance between them.

"I should have known Lavender would come back and cause trouble," Hermione muttered bitterly. Draco listened but knew that she expected no response from him.

Looking out at the lake and the mountains in the far distance, Hermione hurriedly wiped her eyes and silently cast a quick refreshing charm. She looked briefly at Draco, who was watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"If it helps, I won't let him in if he comes calling," Draco said.

Hermione nodded her appreciation and headed away but, reaching the door back into her room, she paused and looked round at him, confused by his sudden decision to help her in her troubles.

Draco could evidently feel her gaze on him because he turned his head to look at her again. "I owe you my life, Granger. This is the least I can do."

Hermione nodded and gave a small smile before disappearing into the room. Not bothering to use one of Salazar's stones to shield the room from the balcony's view, she slumped onto her bed without changing and within moments she was asleep.

**_ooo_**

Hermione sat in her usual chair by the common room fire. The days were getting colder and as she looked out the window to the misty sleet, she was thankful that she had not joined the rest of school for the Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match.

It had been a long week.

It had started with Hermione breaking up with Ron. She knew that she loved him, and felt like she always would, but there was something in his actions that Hermione could not forgive at that moment: _He had taken his time in telling her._

Hermione knew Ron had felt guilty and she knew that it would have been difficult telling her at all but Hermione wanted an honest relationship, one where she could trust her boyfriend with all her heart.

Ron had taken to it with understanding. He had been upset but he had understood that although Hermione loved him, she needed time to forgive and forget. She needed time to rationally consider the situation. Time where they could only go back to being the close friends they had always been.

In heading back to the common room later that evening, she had found Draco sitting in an armchair frantically scribbling notes and it had been that event that had lead to the rest of her week being spent with the blonde Slytherin. They were getting closer to proving many of their theories and the excitement was enough to keep Hermione's head stuck in journals and her quill glued to parchment at every spare moment.

Draco was being somewhat tolerable, which Hermione was highly grateful for. He teased her occasionally but Hermione had come to understand that it was in his nature to do so. He thrived off her witty responses and after scolding him for his taste in woman (after a preciously disgusting narration about Pansy's eating habits), Hermione had actually laughed, thoroughly amused by his retort.

Hermione looked away from the window as she was pulled out of her thoughts by Draco's voice.

"Listen to this: _Rowena and I have progressed to discussing the names of the child she bears. We have agreed on Scorpius for a boy_."

"Scorpius is a terrible name," Hermione stated bluntly, her nose scrunched up in distaste.

"Scorpius is possibly the greatest name a young man could receive," Draco responded rather indignantly.

"Yes and Hugo would fit in perfectly as a middle name," Hermione replied mockingly.

"Hugo?" Draco sneered. "Who in their right mind would ever want to name a toad that let alone their child?"

"I think it's a name of character," Hermione sniffed.

"Well I pity any child of yours, Granger."

Hermione stood up and moved over to Draco's armchair, looking over his shoulder at Salazar's scrolling handwriting.

"_We_ _have agreed_," Hermione read, biting her lip. "If we think about it, Salazar Slytherin really has no need to agree with Ravenclaw at all," she said. "That is unless the 'child she bears' is his."

"But he never states it in so many words," Draco replied. "It's always _her_ child, the child _she_ bears. I think we can only conclude that they were in love. But the child isn't necessarily his. She might have been a –"

"I refuse to believe that Rowena Ravenclaw slept around," Hermione snapped. "They lived a thousand of years ago. If she slept around, she would have been killed. Such behaviour was treated with fatal punishment."

"But it could have been an affair," Draco suggested. "Helena Ravenclaw took the Ravenclaw name not Slytherin's. Perhaps it was Ravenclaw's way of keeping her affair with Slytherin a secret. She told people it was her husband's child."

"Rowena Ravenclaw never married, Malfoy," Hermione sighed impatiently. "That is why there has been so much mystery surrounding Helena Ravenclaw. No one knew who her father was. The information was never released and The Gray Lady certainly refuses to speak of it. She respects her parent's secret which makes me think –"

"That the father is someone who would have caused a lot of controversy judging by Rowena Ravenclaw's persuasion on the magical community."

Hermione beamed. "_Exactly_ and the concept of two Hogwarts founders, who each had entirely separate views and separate qualities of influence, having a romantic relationship would cause a lot of chaos."

"Slytherin's the father."

"Slytherin's the father," Hermione confirmed.


	4. Shirtless

**Chapter Four**

Professor McGonagall sat before them in stunned silence.

"You are sure?" she whispered.

"Yes," Hermione said.

"But Slytherin's views ripped the founders apart!"

"Which was even more cause to keep Helena's paternity a secret," Hermione replied excitedly.

"Well I don't think this is something we can just release to the public," McGonagall said. "I think we need to continue our research – find as much as well can…"

"Yes, Professor," Hermione said, nodding. "We certainly encourage that. The things we have found in those journals though…" She paused in her excitement. "It would make a brilliant publication."

Draco snorted beside her and Hermione glared.

An hour later, Hermione found herself enduring Pansy Parkinson's presence in the common room while Hermione sifted through the large stack of notes they'd made regarding Slytherin's journals.

"But _then_ she said that Goyle wasn't her type and that she preferred Longbottom!" Pansy squealed. "Who could possibly find Longbottom attractive?"

"Millicent apparently," Hermione heard Draco groan. "And what does it matter anyway? You should be thankful she doesn't like Goyle. Now you have free reign on him."

Hermione looked up at that, wanting to see Pansy's reaction.

She gave a squealing giggle and jumped into Draco's lap. "You love your little joke!" she said. She kissed his cheek, causing his face to contort into a snarl.

"Pansy, you really should go," he snapped. "I have work to do."

He looked pointedly at Hermione who was smirking at him. She looked away as soon as Pansy turned to gaze in her direction.

"How I pity you, Draco," Hermione heard her murmur, "Having to interact with the filthiest Mudblood at Hogwarts."

And with what Hermione assumed was a sloppy kiss to Draco's lips, Pansy left.

"Trouble in paradise, Malfoy?" she questioned. "You didn't seem overly interested in her presence."

"You certainly are a brainy witch, aren't you Granger?" Draco asked sarcastically.

Hermione met his eyes and blinked, slightly confused. She could almost decipher that as a compliment.

**_ooo_**

Christmas rushed towards them in a vision of snow, baubles and candy canes. Draco came over moodier than usual, hating the cold and Hermione chose to keep her distance in order to avoid lighting his extremely short fuse.

"What you looking at, Weasley?" he barked as he approached Hermione at the Gryffindor table at lunchtime the day before the holidays started.

Ginny closed her mouth and looked at Hermione, who was waiting patiently for Draco to say what he needed to.

"Granger, I need to talk to you," he snapped. Hermione, not at all startled by his tone nodded for him to continue.

Draco stared at her then indicated her friends.

"Oh!" Hermione said this time very much startled. "You want to talk alone?"

Draco started walking away and Hermione clambered to her feet. Ron grabbed her wrist.

"Hermione, he might be tricking you so he can kill you!" he cried. He was staring at Draco's back as he came to a halt. "Please don't go with him, Hermione!"

"He doesn't want to kill me, Ron," Hermione replied with one eyebrow slightly raised. "And if it makes you feel any better, I'll just talk to him at the entrance. That way you can watch his every move."

Ron stubbornly nodded and took out his wand. Hermione nodded and went to join Malfoy.

"What is it, Malfoy?" Hermione asked as they reached the entrance to the Great Hall. Three students sidled on past them out of the hall, looking at the two of them with curious expressions.

"I just wanted to know if you were staying for the holidays?" he asked.

"Yes Malfoy I am," she said calmly. "And you?"

"I have to," he replied. "My parents are traveling and although the house elves make brilliant meals they do not make the best company."

"Well then, I suppose we'll just have to endure each other's presence," Hermione said. "That shouldn't be too hard."

Draco nodded and looked away. "Well that's settled."

And he left. Hermione stood there a moment before heading back to Harry, Ron and Ginny.

"What did he want?" Harry asked.

"Just wanted to know if I was staying for the holidays," Hermione shrugged.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Why'd he need to know that?"

"He wanted to work on the Salazar Slytherin research and wanted to know if I'd be around to help," Hermione replied, assuming this was the reason why Draco had asked her. She was not concerned by Draco's question. She knew that a year ago she would have been, but now … now he was different.

"How come he doesn't walk around with Goyle anymore?" Ron asked.

Hermione looked at Ron. "He's not getting off with Pansy Parkinson anymore, either," she said.

"How on earth do you know that?" Ron asked, bewildered.

"Oh please!" Hermione breathed. "It's obvious isn't it? He's repulsed by her!"

Ginny watched Hermione carefully. "We don't pay them enough attention to them to know that, Hermione."

Hermione just looked at the red-haired girl and after a moment stood. "I'm due to meet Professor McGonagall," she said, placing her napkin on her plate. "I'll see you guys later."

**_ooo_**

The trek back to the common room was uneventful. She did not know why she had suddenly felt like leaving her friends' presence but there was something in their calculating looks that made Hermione uneasy.

Reaching the large portrait of Salazar Slytherin, Hermione raised her silver stone and waved it across the surface. It faded to admit her and as she headed on through, she came to a halt at the sight before her.

Draco stood in the study, running a finger along the spines of the books slowly, obviously looking for one in particular. This would not have been unusual had he been doing it fully clothed.

A fluffy black towel was wrapped around his hips, giving Hermione a thorough view of his chest and arms. Although not toned with the muscles of a body builder, Hermione could make out the lines and curves of his muscles quite well. A fine scatter of fair hair scattered his chest and there was a single, perfect line proceeding downwards from his belly button to whatever was below.

Hermione took an intake of breath, drawing his attention to her presence.

"Granger," he said, appearing quite startled. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

Hermione took very little notice of what he was saying. She was staring at his right arm, her gaze lingering of the lightly toned muscle there.

Her face gradually got hotter and she turned away. "I'm sorry, Malfoy," she said, staring at the carpet now.

"I was just going to have a shower," Draco said. Hermione raised her eyes to his.

"Then have it," she whispered.

Hermione could not read his facial expression but she knew that there was something keeping him there for a moment longer than was allowed. Eventually, he broke the gaze and headed to the bathroom door, opened it and then closed it.

Hermione listened carefully for the distant sound of the water being turned on before moving an inch. Sinking into an armchair, she attempted to regain her composure. At that moment, her brain was numb.

Draco Malfoy's half naked body should not have had that affect on her.

**_ooo_**

The next day, Hermione woke up to ice plastering the window that looked out to the balcony. Shivering despite the heat of the room, Hermione got up and headed downstairs for a shower. She looked around carefully before proceeding into the large bathroom.

She began by turning on all the taps to the bath, pleased to watch it quickly fill with water of a perfect temperature, the room filling with the musky scent of the bath potions. Taking off the nightie she had worn to bed, she threw it into the dirty-laundry hamper where it immediately disappeared. Hermione could only assume that it went straight to the laundry.

Putting her hair up in a ponytail, she slid gracefully into the massive bath and immediately relaxed. Sliding her soapy hands over her body in a massaging motion, she felt the muscles loosen and she sighed, ignoring the thoughts that tried to come to the surface.

Closing her eyes, she took deep breaths and tried to concentrate her thoughts on Salazar Slytherin's journals. However, as she allowed the image of Rowena Ravenclaw and Slytherin come to mind, she saw not the faces of the founders she saw in pictures but of one Draco Malfoy and herself.

Shaking her head, Hermione slapped herself on the forehead for seeing such and as she did so she was brought back to third year, her hand brutally slapping a pale, pointed face that was twisted with hatred and then quite suddenly, the image of that same boy, avoiding her eyes as his Aunt tortured her.

Hermione gasped and brought herself back to earth. It had been over a month since Hermione had thought of terrors of the war. Swallowing thickly, Hermione dragged herself out of the bath and proceeded to grab one of the black fluffy towels that magically appeared on a rail nearby. Wrapping it around herself, Hermione threw open the bathroom door and swept out of there, immediately clambering up the stairs to her room.

She had not noticed the pair of wide grey eyes that had watched her glide across the common room.


	5. Christmas

**Chapter Five**

The Christmas holidays began with a sudden decoration of the Head Quarters. Holly, mistletoe and flashy baubles lined the high ceiling and there was a sudden appearance of glittery candles, ribbon and tinsel lining the walls and furniture. A giant Christmas tree, as large as those that decorated the Great Hall, stood peacefully in a corner. It positively glowed with real life fairies, fake snow and even more baubles.

"I like it," Hermione said, noticing the snarl of disgust on Draco's face as he entered the common room from the stairs. "It looks very festive."

"We're taking it down," Draco responded bluntly.

"No we aren't!" Hermione cried. "Just because your life ambition is to become the grinch doesn't mean you have to spoil everyone else's Christmas, Malfoy."

Draco looked at her, waved his wand and a few of the decorations disappeared before their eyes.

Hermione sighed, disappointed, and headed out of the room away from him.

Sitting at a table in the Great Hall, Hermione looked around to see that she was the only Gryffindor staying back for the holidays. Looking around she spotted a pair of twin, female second years from Ravenclaw who were taking it in turns to braid the other's hair, three lonely students from different years sat at the Hufflepuff table while the Slytherin table sat empty.

Moving her eyes back to the food in front of her, Hermione grabbed a piece of toast and as she spread it with honey, she did not notice when Draco sidled into the hall and took his place at the empty Slytherin table.

**_ooo_**

Over the first couple of days of the holidays, they made very little progress concerning Salazar Slytherin's journals. Many of their theories still remained to be proved or disproved and Hermione was getting quite agitated with Draco for reasons she didn't know.

He sat there, pouring over books and notes while she did the same in the opposite seat. She supposed that maybe it was too quiet for her liking or she preferred it when they would argue one of the theories together. They had taken to doing that often and Hermione had started to actually enjoy the fierceness in which he argued an issue. It reminded her of the way she and Ron used to bicker and argue.

Hermione shook her head. "Ron," she muttered in disgrace in letting herself think of the good moments with him.

"Aren't you over him yet, Granger?" Draco suddenly snapped.

Hermione looked at him and looked back at the page in front of her. "I didn't mean to say that out loud – I – That's really none of your business, Malfoy."

"If it's affecting the work we're doing together than it is my business, Granger," Draco sneered. "Is the red-headed Weasel affecting your ability to read? Wouldn't want that, would we, Granger?"

Hermione did not respond and continued her reading. That wasn't the type of argument she enjoyed having with Draco and therefore she wished not to encourage it.

"What's the matter, Granger?" Draco snarled. "Missing Weasley? Tired of waking up and finding that shagging him was only some disturbing dream?"

Hermione looked into Draco's face and knew through his eyes that somewhere inside him he didn't mean his words.

"Don't say what you don't mean, Draco." His first name was foreign on her lips. She felt like she needed to repeat it several times in order for it to sound right.

Hermione watched something flicker in those usually passive eyes and in that moment she knew that she was right when she had told Ron that he had changed.

"What happened last year?" Hermione asked in a whisper. She knew he heard because he shifted uncomfortably. "What was it like?"

"You saw me at the manor, Granger," he said, not looking at her. "You should know what's going on in my head. You haven't been wrong yet."

"I know that you were scared," Hermione replied, still very quietly. "I know that you were regretting having the beliefs you had."

"I couldn't kill Dumbledore," Draco said, his voice suddenly very low. "The Dark Lord should have killed me –"

"But he didn't," Hermione said with a shrub. "Were you thankful for that?"

"He kept a death sentence on my family and me, Granger," Draco snapped. "He kept us alive but we knew that if we didn't serve in a way that satisfied him, we would be dead."

Hermione looked at him carefully. "In the Room of Requirement you told Crabbe and Goyle not to kill us." Her voice was trembling now. "Was that only because of Voldemort or – or something else?"

"I wanted him gone."

"Who? Harry?"

"The Dark Lord."

"Oh."

Hermione suddenly completely understood. He did not want to keep them alive in order to give them to Voldemort. He just made it out as though that was the reason. He knew Harry had to be the one who finally vanquished Voldemort. The only mistake he made was that Harry wouldn't have been ready to kill Voldemort at that stage. Not as the captured hero.

"I wanted to stop my aunt at the manor, too," Draco muttered. "I kept thinking about the incident with Dumbledore, what he said to me –"

"You knew it was me but you tried to say that you didn't recognize me."

Draco and Hermione's eyes met. Silent tears were cascading down Hermione's cheeks and Draco looked distressed.

"All that time and we thought you were cold and heartless," Hermione murmured.

"Potter and Weasley will always think of me that way," Draco snarled. "Just because they testified for me in the courts doesn't mean they actually believed that I had made a massive realisation and changed. You heard Weasley that night –"

"Yes I did," Hermione nodded somberly, looking away from Draco as she remembered the way Ron had spoken to her that night.

"Are you over him yet?"

Hermione looked up at him and felt a flip in her stomach region. "I – I don't know."

And with that Hermione went back to the work in front of her, even though she knew that she would not be able to concentrate on anything but Draco Malfoy, whose eyes she could feel burning into her.

**_ooo_**

The next morning was Christmas. Hermione greeted Draco and all the presents merrily. Draco seemed to have cheered up and even spared her a "Merry Christmas, Granger" as he headed into the common room where Hermione was already tearing paper from her many presents.

Hermione groaned as she opened a small dainty box to reveal a silver necklace with a heart pendent. Draco, looking around, gazed at it with a snarl.

"That looks like the cheapest silver I have ever seen, Granger," he sneered. "I can't say I share Weasley's taste."

Hermione closed the box, ignoring Draco's comment. "He shouldn't have gotten it at all. Jewellery's something you get for a girlfriend."

"Or an ex-girlfriend you want back," Draco said.

He was watching her closely again and Hermione sincerely wished he wouldn't.

"Do you mind if we sit together at meals today, Granger?" Draco asked suddenly. "It is Christmas after all."

"I – that would be lovely," Hermione said, swallowing an unusual lump that had appeared in the region of her throat.

It was awkward going to breakfast together. This was quite understandable; they weren't really friends as such and there was very little they could talk about. After several minutes of walking in silence, Hermione gave in and asked a question regarding a subject she very rarely chose to bring up.

"Why aren't you playing Quidditch this year?" she asked.

Draco looked at her. "Juggle Quidditch, NEWTs and Salazar Slytherin all in one school year? I think not, Granger."

Hermione nodded absently. "What were you wishing to do once you've left Hogwarts?"

"Law," Draco responded promptly.

"Really?" Hermione asked, interested. "What has inspired you to go in that direction?"

"I enjoy arguing with you, Granger," Draco stated bluntly, as though he wished it weren;t true. "So you were the one who inspired me."

Hermione smiled rather smugly. "How many NEWTs do you need for magical law, though?"

"Very few really," Draco replied. "They encourage charms, potions and transfiguration to gather knowledge on magic and they also require history of magic. A thorough knowledge of Muggle life is also encouraged under Shacklebolt's law, too."

"Are you doing Muggle Studies?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"No but I'm learning about them slowly," Draco responded with a shrug. "They actually seem to be quite smart, creating electricity and building things by hand. Those nuclear bombs, they put Avada Kedavra to shame."

Hermione looked at him incredulously. "Well yes I suppose," she agreed as they reached the Great Hall and noticed the large round table in the centre of the hall. "If you need any assistance in understanding it all –"

"Thanks, Granger."

Draco took a seat next to the Ravenclaw twins, who were both whispering excitedly to each other. The eldest of the Hufflepuff girls was staring at Draco and Hermione with wide eyes, obviously not believing her eyes.

Once they had eaten, Draco and Hermione went their separate ways. Hermione grabbed a muggle novel and headed out onto the grounds to read it, while Draco took refuge in the common room, sorting once more through all the notes they had collected regarding Salazar Slytherin.

Hermione did not think a lot about the newfound tolerance she had in Draco's presence. She only knew that she quite liked it. Harry and Ron had been rather distant with her recently and as a result Hermione found she felt quite alone. She refused to spend hours alone in her room and instead took to reading novels just as she was now. In a way, it reflected her actions of early first year but Hermione did not mind.

From atop the balcony they led out from their rooms, Draco stood, looking down at Hermione's sitting figure by the lake, although Hermione did not notice. So absorbed in her novel, she had little ability to wonder exactly what was making her accept Draco as something other than the enemy he'd always been.


	6. Recovering

**Chapter Six**

"You think she fancies him?"

"He's Draco Malfoy!"

"Where are Potter and Weasley?"

"Why's she with _him_?"

The comments started to circulate the moment the new term began. Hermione walked patiently alongside Draco as they headed to the library for further information on the Hogwarts founders. She tried desperately to ignore the many loud whispers by passes by, knowing that rumours would soon spread and she would have a lot of people to answer to but part of Hermione did not mind.

Draco's presence had been quite enjoyable at times during the remainder of the holidays. True, he had teased and argued with her about various things. Her hair, for example, was something he never grew tired of mentioning but in the end Hermione got the idea that he just liked getting a rouse out of her and that her hair was just one way of getting at her.

Reaching the library, Hermione took from the shelves many tomes: _The Four Founders_, _The Secrets of the Hogwarts Founders_ and _Hogwarts: A History_ were included in the stack.

Opening the closest one, she scanned the contents and flipped to a page headed _Salazar Slytherin_.

Quickly reading the page and frowning in annoyance, Hermione muttered a quiet "useless" and pushed the book aside only to grab the next in her pile. Opening it, she began to scan its contents page but looked up when she realized that Draco was not copying her actions.

"What do you think you're doing, Malfoy?" she snapped, looking across the table at him. "You don't honestly think I brought you along with me only to have you watch me. Grab a book and research!"

"Yes, ma'am," Draco smirked but he just leaned back in his chair, watching her easily, his smirk widening.

"Malfoy, I assure you that these books are far more interesting than my hand slapping your perfect cheek!"

"Perfect, am I?" Malfoy's smirk widened, if possible, even more. "Can't resist my flawless looks and devilish charm, Granger?"

Hermione stared at him, mouth open and unmoving.

"It's good to see your taste has improved. I mean to go from a Weasley to a perfect prince like myself is one hell of an achievement.

Hermione closed her mouth, clenching her teeth and narrowing her eyes. "Perfect prince?" she scoffed. "Whom might you be referring to? Neville? Because I must say I agree. I'd let him place the glass slipper on my foot any day!"

That did its job. Draco sat forward and looked at her in slight confusion that he quickly covered with a smirk. "You and Longbottom share a foot fetish? That's the best news I've heard all day!"

Hermione couldn't help but smile at that. She grabbed a book from the stack and slid it across the table at him.

"Now Granger I'm not going to find lonely doodles in here expressing your attraction to socks, am I?"

Granger gave a fake chuckle and went back to her research. As she finished writing a single note on the many myths associated with Salazar Slytherin, Hermione could feel Draco's gaze on her once more. Taking a deep breath, she did not look up but from then on she found her concentration was very much diminished.

**_ooo_**

Hermione sat quietly in the common room going through a box of old photos of herself, the Weasleys, the Gryffindors, the DA and Harry. Coming across one of Ron, she placed it in a pile to her right. This pile was dedicated to the photos she would store in a different box, one that would be stored away for as long as was needed.

"Getting rid of old photos, Granger?" Draco asked from behind her, startling her slightly. He picked up the pile containing the photo of Ron and sat in the armchair beside her. Hermione made no move to stop him.

Hermione looked down at a photo of her and Harry, laughing happily at the camera.

"Granger, you look ready to dash away," Draco said, holding up a photo of her and Ron from the summer holidays. The image of Hermione was trying desperately to find a way out of the photo. "Did Weasley stink exceptionally bad that day?"

"Photos have a way of reflecting people's feelings even after the photo is developed, Malfoy," Hermione informed him, standing up and heading over to the fire when she dropped a practically familiar one of Ron. "I broke up with him. The image is reflecting that by showing me trying to get away."

"Are you over him yet?" Draco asked. He was approaching her from behind as she watched the photo of Ron's grimacing face shrivel and melt as the flames licked at the sides.

Hermione turned and looked at Draco. He seemed too near and Hermione's breath caught. As Draco handed over the other photos, his fingers grazed her own and Hermione gasped slightly, looking right into his eyes. His fingers lingered for a moment before he took a slight step towards her.

Hermione's brain went into overdrive and with lightning speed, she looked away and headed back to her armchair to sift through more photos.

"I'm over him. But I'm still recovering," Hermione murmured and she knew, though his retreat was silent, that Draco was gone.

**_oooooo_**

Draco could not believe it: he had wanted to kiss Hermione Granger. He could not explain it nor did he want to see reason.

He just knew that at that moment, as she stood burning away her memories of Ronald Weasley, he had wanted to kiss her. And he hated the very thought. Was he developing feelings for her? Were all his urges of asking her if she was over Ron really some strange way of his heart screaming "Oi! Pea-Brain! I like Hermione Granger! Can we make a move yet?!"?

Draco shuddered. He would not believe it. He refused to even think of it.

And yet he was thinking it and he did believe it. All those moments where he watched her and forced an argument from her were his way of getting her attention, getting her to notice him and that very idea was something he hated (absolutely _hated_) to consider.

Normally when he liked a girl he felt it in a region other than his head and heart but this time was different and Draco wanted to shut the thoughts out and have them never return.

He had feelings for Hermione Granger. It was _not_ going to remain this way.

**_oooooo_**

Hermione's thoughts were a little less self-hating and much more skeptical than Draco's.

Sitting in the common room, she assured herself that she had imagined the whole ordeal. Draco had not been moving in for a kiss, he just moved his footing and it had _seemed_ like his intentions were on a totally other plane of existence all together.

Shaking herself, she went back to her photos and started once more dividing them into piles. She ripped up one of her and Lavender from fourth year, which Hermione found very satisfying and proceeded to sift through the large collection of memories. It wasn't until she came across one of herself and Viktor Krum at the Yule Ball that her concentration shifted and she found herself thinking of Draco again.

In the back of the photo and to the left of Hermione's periwinkle blue figure was a blonde boy of fourteen with his arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair. Hermione could just make out a frilly bit of pink lace beside him that brought a terrible vision of Pansy to her mind's eye before it concentrated on Draco's younger image. He looked sulky, but at the same time, proud. His high collared black dress robes made him look mature for his young age and his hair, although always well groomed, sat comfortable and neat upon his head. This however, was not what first caught her eye. No, it was the direction his eyes; they were looking straight at the Hermione in the photo, blinking lazily on occasion but never leaving her.

"You looked good that night," Draco said from behind her, making her jump and look around. He was watching her every move again and although Hermione knew that it should unnerve her like it once had, she now found herself comfortable under his gaze.

"Yes well cosmetics and potions are manufactured for that reason," Hermione retorted.

Draco walked round the couch and sat at one end of it. Hermione took a deep breath and bit her lip, the air suddenly feeling heavy on her senses. She reached inside her bag and grabbed the first book she felt. Pulling it out, she placed the Yule Ball photo in it and went to place it back in her book bag only to have Draco stop her.

"_The Darkest Art_…" Draco read, staring at the book in shock. "Granger, what the hell are you doing with a book on Horcruxes?"

"Voldemort," Hermione said simply, frowning at his expression.

"What about him?"

"Are you the only wizard in the known universe that ignored the many interviews Harry, Ron and I conducted after Voldemort's death?"

"I have little reason to take note of anything Potter and Weasley say to the media, Granger," Draco sneered.

"Well that's a first when you pay attention to what _everyone else_ says about Harry, Ron and I in the media!"

Draco shrugged. "What the hell does the Dark Lord have to do with that bloody book, Granger?"

"Voldemort made Horcruxes," Hermione said simply. "Seven of them – well eight if you include the fragment of soul that resided in Voldemort's own body."

"So that's why he didn't die the first time!" Draco realised rather excitedly. He rather reminded Hermione of a puppy who'd just gotten its first chew toy.

"Yes," Hermione nodded. "I re-opened this one trying to find clues on other ways in which wizards might preserve their life. Like Salazar Slytherin may have with his power and the stones."

"You were going to tell me this when?" Draco snarled. "All this time I've been pouring over love notes to Rowena Ravenclaw and you've been playing around with information on Horcruxes and life preserving methods!"

"Well I really shouldn't have this book, that's why I didn't mention it," Hermione replied. "I could get into real trouble for so much as looking at the cover!"

Draco, mouth open in awe, snatched the book from her and skimmed through it, the photo falling out onto the floor. He picked it up and gave it a quick glance.

"Hiding this photo away for a reason, Granger?" Draco sneered. "Going to give Viktor Krum another go now Weasley's out of the way?" He did not provoke her.

His gaze had fallen on the image of himself and he mentally gulped, closing the book over the photo.

Even Horcruxes would not be able to shift his thoughts at that moment.


	7. Memories

**Chapter Seven**

"Should now be the time I raise my concerns about your fascination with Horcruxes?" Hermione asked Draco late one evening.

"They are a extremely complex strand of wizardry, Granger," Draco said. "If you look outside the fact that they are seriously 'The Darkest Art', they really are quite fascinating."

"That coming from someone who has not been tortured by one the way I have," Hermione said, wishing her tone sounded snappier than it did. "You'd feel differently if you'd experienced one's presence first hand."

"Granger, I'm tortured by you every day," Draco retorted. "I honestly think I could endure a lifetime with Lord Voldemort's soul strapped around my neck."

"Yes you could exchange jokes and sip expensive tea together," Hermione joked sardonically.

"I'm impressed, Granger, that was almost funny," Draco stated. "Go less on the sarcasm next time and you might get half a chuckle from me."

Hermione smiled and Draco looked away. It wasn't just his brain and heart that were singing Hermione's name in joy, anymore. That smile made other parts of his anatomy physically stand up in applause.

Draco cleared his throat. "So, Granger, where did you find such a book like this?"

"I summoned them from the Headmaster's office at the end of sixth year," Hermione responded absently.

"Them?" Draco repeated, looking at her again quickly. "There are more?"

Hermione looked at him. "Yes. About ten or so. Some are really vague. _The Darkest Art _was by far the most detailed."

"So you don't think they will help us any?" Draco asked offhandedly.

Hermione was silent for a moment. "I can go get them if you really want…"

"I'll be here when you get back."

Hermione stood and headed up the stairs. Draco took a deep sigh and sat back, stretching, mentally banging his head into a wall of lead.

"Why? Why? WHY?" he muttered to himself. "She's bloody Hermione Granger!"

Frustrated, he grabbed one of Salazar' Stones from the coffee table and aggressively swiped it through the air. He had not expected to see a small vision of a woman standing by a mirror suddenly appear in midair. The woman had long, curly black hair and pale skin. She wore blue robes that hugged at her figure in a very delightful way. As she ran an antique brush through her hair, she spoke words to either herself or someone outside Draco's line of vision. The smile on her face suggested that they were words of affection.

"Here they –" Hermione halted, staring at the vision as it disappeared. "Draco, what was that?" Hermione voice seemed shocked for a moment as she stared at where the image of the woman had been a moment before.

Draco looked down at the stone in his hand and twirled it between his hands. "I just –" he repeated the action he had used before and a new image appeared, this time of a dark man writing on a scroll of yellowed parchment.

"I've done that a hundred times and it's never done that!" Hermione exclaimed. "That night with the vase was the only time I got anything!"

Hermione ran forward and snatched up the stone. She raised it into the air and made the same swiping motion Draco had previously demonstrated. This time, they saw a baby rocking in a cradle; a large window was in the background, displaying several large trees.

Hermione looked at Draco, brow furrowed. "I – maybe – there's really only one way to know –"

She picked up a different stone and swiped it through the air.

Nothing happened.

Draco grabbed it and did the same.

Again – Nothing happened.

Looking at each other, Hermione, still frowning him, bit her lip and turned her attention to the vase she had used previously. Moving over to it, she swiped the air before it with the stone. The vase filled with water, gliding it through the air again, the water filled with the image of a photo melting as flames licked at every side.

As the image disappeared, Hermione looked at the stone and back at the one Draco now held.

"Where's the other stone?" Hermione asked urgently. "The one we haven't tried?"

"It's over on the desk," Draco said, getting up. He headed over to the study and grabbed the final platinum stone. "What do you think this one will do?"

"Show the future," Hermione whispered. Draco frowned at her. "There is a legend about stones having clairvoyant properties," Hermione explained. "They are each connected in some way to elements and personal DNA. The one with the man and the baby were Salazar's memories. We see them through air. This one –" Hermione held up the stone she had just used "-it reacts to water and shows the user's memories."

"What makes you certain this one will show the future?" Draco asked, holding up the third stone.

"It will react to fire," Hermione said, ignoring his question.

"But how do you know it won't just show more memories?" Draco questioned.

"I don't," Hermione shrugged. "It's just a theory."

"Well let's test it then," Draco said, heading over to the fire place.

"Are – Are you sure you want to do that, Malfoy?"

"Why not?"

Hermione took a deep breath as Draco leaned over and used the same sweeping motion before the flames.

At first, nothing happened, but a moment later they were looking at themselves, flames dancing around them. In the vision Draco stood a foot from Hermione and they were holding a book between them. Hermione watched herself shift slightly before looking down at the book. She took it from his hands and turned to place it in her bag, a blush on her face. Draco licked his lips, looking uncertain before turning away. The vision faded.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other, uncomfortable.

"I'd say we'd just fought," Draco said, trying to reassure himself.

"Yes that's likely." Hermione agreed hurriedly. She turned away, still biting her lip, trying not to think about the image that had just moments ago swum before them.

A silence grew between them as they each retook their places on the couch. It was obvious that they were both thinking about something although it was not as obvious exactly what they were thinking of.

Suddenly Draco looked at the stone in his hand.

"Shouldn't there be another stone?" he asked Hermione abruptly.

"What – why – What makes you say that, Malfoy?" Hermione watched as he turned the stone in his hand.

"You said these stones each react to an element," Draco said slowly. "We've got stones that react to air, water and fire. What about one that reacts to earth?"

"Well I – Well I suppose you're right," Hermione said, sitting up. "But then if we look at other properties of these stones, we have one that shows Salazar's memories, another which shows the user's memories and then one that shows the future. What could a fourth stone possibly show?"

That question was followed by silence.

Then Draco had a thought: "Why do two of them show memories and only one show the future? Surely the fourth stone would be related to the future stone?"

"Not necessarily," Hermione replied. "One shows the user's memories, another shows the user's future and then one showed Salazar's memories. The fourth stone could be related to Salazar."

"Salazar's _future_?" Draco suggested.

It hit Hermione fully and completely like a tidal wave. "Ravenclaw loves riddles. They're all about wit and the ability to put two and two together. We know that she was there when Slytherin died, we know that she loved him..."

"Where are you going with this, Granger?"

"These three stones are a riddle," Hermione said, excited. "You have to solve the riddle to find the fourth stone and that stone is Slytherin's power, his life. It is _Salazar's future_. His life after death!"

"You are brilliant, Granger," Draco said lightly, picking up the stones.

Hermione grinned and grabbed the air stone, waving it through the air, she saw the image of the woman in front of the mirror. Draco watched her as she seemed to take in the entire picture.

"Err, Granger," Draco said lightly. "How do our memories and future come into a riddle that was created a thousand years ago?"

"The stone chooses the memories and displays the future the way it feels," Hermione stated as though it was obvious.

"So us fighting over a book and you burning Weasley's picture is going to help us solve a thousand year old riddle?" Draco asked incredulously. "You said you thought Potter was crazy for jumping straight to the conclusion that he possessed two of the Deathly Hallows and that Voldemort wanted the Elder Wand."

Hermione sighed. "But Harry was right."

Draco snarled. "Doesn't mean you are."

"I think this riddle goes beyond fighting over a book and the burning of a picture. _It's a riddle_. It won't be that obvious."


	8. Clues

**Chapter Eight**

"So we have fire, a mirror, a letter, a baby and a book," Hermione said.

"It could be a fire, a photo, a letter, a baby and us arguing," Draco suggested.

Hermione swiped the stone through the air before the vase of water. Within it viewed the common room with Hermione curled up before the raging fireplace in nothing but her underwear, writing a long letter, tears dripping from her nose.

"More fire," Hermione stated smugly as the image disappeared.

"You do realise I could have walked down the stairs at any moment and seen you in your underthings don't you Granger?" Draco asked. Hermione looked at him, a blush covering her face. Draco moved away from the subject quickly. "Okay so your past is filled with fire. It seems we're back on elements."

"Not necessarily Malfoy," Hermione stated. "Fire can be symbolic of war or tragedy."

"If you say so," Draco muttered. "What about Salazar's memories of Rowena's vanity, his love notes and a baby?"

"It could symbolize family or in his case, secrets," Hermione suggested, "and our future, could symbolise … well… books?"

Draco stared at her blankly. "Books? Maybe we should use the fire stone again?" he made to stand up.

"Oh – I don't know, Malfoy," Hermione said, getting up and grabbing a book off the shelf. "I don't really like the idea of knowing what my future holds."

Draco stood before her. "I don't think _Sense and Sensibility_ is going to answer this riddle, Hermione," Draco muttered, putting his hand out for the book.

"You – You know of _Sense and Sensibility_?" Hermione murmured, wondering if she had imagined his use of her first name. She kept a firm hold on the book.

"Yes," Draco said, grabbing the edge of the book with both hands. "I find it a complete waste of brain power."

Hermione nodded absently, looking into his eyes. "I suppose it is," she said quietly, "but this actually belongs in my room so I might just put it in my bag so I don't forget to take it up later –"

All of a sudden, Hermione was struck with the image from the fireplace and she knew that this was it unfolding. Shifting on her feet to break the moment, she looked down at the book and lightly took it out of his hands. Turning, she ignored the flush on her face and placed the book in her bag slowly, taking her time before looking back at Draco.

Turning around, she saw him standing by the fire, staring at the stone uncertainly. It seemed his original desire to use it again had slipped away.

"Fighting isn't the clue from our future then, is it?" Draco said quietly. He looked around at Hermione who shook her head quickly, taking deep breaths. "We best get this over with then."

Swiping the stone over the fireplace, Hermione watched an image of Draco and Pansy materialise in front of them. They walked into the common room and Pansy stood crying. Draco looked annoyed and they were talking somewhat heatedly. The scene produced no noise so they could not hear what was being said but just as Hermione read the name "Granger" on his lips, an image of Hermione appeared on the scene. She and Draco looked at each other for a long moment and then the image faded.

Draco looked at Hermione. "Maybe what just happened wasn't the vision from our future. Maybe we are still going to fight. I mean Pansy and I were certainly –"

"Why would the vision show me, though?" Hermione snapped. "Why?"

"Okay, we'll try another vision then," Draco said. He swiped the stone across the entrance to the fireplace again and before them they saw themselves sitting silently on the couch. Neither of them moved nor looked at each other. The Draco in the image's hand gave a twitch but he recomposed himself quickly.

The vision faded.

"Well that was helpful," Draco stated sarcastically, "Lots of clues there."

He raised the stone again. "No, Malfoy," Hermione said from the couch. "No more."

They gazed at each other and Draco understood: she was scared. Scared of what the future might hold.

Hermione grabbed her bag and headed up the stairs, knowing full well what the fire stone was telling her.

She had feelings for Draco Malfoy.

**_ooo_**

The initial shock of realizing that she now saw Draco as more than a hateful ferret took a long time to wear off. She saw it in his eyes that he too had made a similar realization about his own feelings and that fate was certainly not on their sides.

_No, fate wanted them kissing in front of fireplaces._ Hermione was certain that if she used that stone again, them kissing would be the next image to appear in front of her. So she would cheat fate. She would avoid Draco's every presence, she would get back with Ron and she would just stay the hell away from what the fire told her would unfold if she didn't take control.

But she couldn't get back with Ron. She did try to fall back in love with him. Over breakfast they held hands but the entire time she felt disgusted in herself. Lavender was always around and Ron's hands just weren't as warm as they had once felt to her.

So she looked elsewhere instead, much to Ron's disappointment. She considered Neville and she spoke to Ginny about Dean but Dean was with Luna Lovegood and Hermione didn't find Neville overly appealing. When she attempted to watch Neville as he ate, her eyes always ended up flickering back to the Slytherin table, where Draco sat with his eye on his pie, obviously deep in thought and oblivious to the world.

"Hermione," Ginny said for the ninth time, concerned about her friend. "Why are you staring over there?"

"He's changed you know," Hermione murmured. "He's not the same."

"Who isn't the same?" Ginny questioned, following Hermione's gaze. "Oh. Yes, I've noticed too."

"You have?" Hermione asked quickly. "Ron thought I was crazy for thinking it."

"I never said he'd changed for the better, Hermione," Ginny said bluntly.

"Ron told you I defended him, did he?" Hermione asked through clenched teeth. "It was months ago!"

"Hermione," Ginny whispered, looking at those around them cautiously. No one was paying them any attention. "Are the rumours true? I mean I haven't believed a single one up until now. Hermione, are you interested in Malfoy?"

Hermione stood up. "I have to go," she declared loudly and stormed away. Ginny gave a false grin at a couple of Ravenclaw students that were now staring at her. Leaned back in her chair, Ginny's eyes turned to watch Draco, whose eyes had followed Hermione out of the Hall.

**_ooo_**

Draco and Hermione were each brainstorming ideas about the riddle to themselves as they sat in the common room a week later.

"You've been avoiding me, Granger," Draco said suddenly.

"Have I?" Hermione asked warily, not moving her eyes away from her work. Her voice automatically dropped to a whisper as she wrote down new ideas. "Ashes? Smoke?"

"Yes, Granger, you have."

"Hmm." She could not muster a different response.

It was silent for a moment.

"There are rumours about us," Draco stated, "Pansy was in a frenzy when she heard them."

"Yes I know about the rumours," Hermione responded blandly. "My own friends are stupid enough to believe them."

"_Really?_" Draco drawled, a wide smirk appearing on his face.

Hermione looked up at him.

It was a mistake; she knew it the moment her eyes found his grey ones. Her stomach did a violent flip, plummeted and somehow ended up in her throat.

Quickly, she shook herself and looked back down at the parchment in front of her.

Draco was silent from that moment on but Hermione could feel his eyes burning into her flesh. Goose bumps rose on her skin and she shivered though not from cold.

She abruptly stood, avoiding looking at him. "Shower," she muttered. "No, a bath. I need a bath."

And Hermione dashed across the room, shakily pulled open the bathroom door and hurried in, slamming it behind her.

Leaning against the door, she stared at the empty bath. She didn't really need one; she'd had a shower two hours previous. She had just needed to get away from Draco.

As Hermione pulled her hair up in a clip and sank into the hot, relaxing water, she was not aware of the eyes that had appeared as the door was pushed open slightly.

Draco watched her nude form from behind, licking his lips lightly as he did so. With a tiny sigh, he closed the door and headed back over to his seat on the couch, where he proceeded to stare at the fire, swirling one of Salazar Slytherin's stones in his hand.

Turning towards the vase, he waved the stone through the air. Within the watery contents, the scene with _Sense and Sensibility_ played before his eyes only this time from a different angle. He could see only Hermione, see only her reaction to him, the mixed feelings in her eyes.

Draco sat back, running a hand through his hair.

What the hell was he turning into? Fancying Hermione Granger?

Draco looked back at the vase, where Hermione's naked back was disappearing into a swimming pool of bubbles.


	9. Breathe

**Chapter Nine**

Hermione felt alone. As she sat in the Great Hall for lunch, waiting for the signal to head off to her Arithmancy class, she felt very alone. Harry sat snogging Ginny four seats down, Ron was busy mashing his own potato, Neville had a new plant that he was poking with a quill and Parvati and Lavender had their heads together, whispering. Hermione certainly didn't miss the glances they kept sending her way.

"You know, Granger, it's nice to answer someone when they say your name."

Hermione whipped her head around and her eyes met Draco who was, she couldn't quite believe it, guiding himself down onto the seat beside her.

"Malfoy, what do you think you're –"

"Relax Granger," Draco drawled. "I just thought I would come and tell you that Pansy is on the war path."

"And why should that affect me?" Hermione asked him, narrowing her eyes.

"Well I finally told her that I don't fancy her," Draco smirked.

"I don't understand?" Hermione said, swallowing.

"Well she thinks that I don't fancy her because I fancy you," Draco answered, smirk still firmly in place.

"You told her that?!" Hermione cried.

"Sorry, let me rephrase that: she _thinks_ I don't fancy her because she _thinks_ I fancy you," Draco said calmly, smirk flickering on his lips slightly.

"Why on earth would she think _that_, Malfoy?!" Hermione exclaimed.

"The rumours," Draco drawled simply. "Don't tell me you've forgotten Granger; everyone is talking about it. Like Laverne and Shirley over there –" He indicated Parvati and Lavender.

"How do you know who Laverne and Shirley are?"

"They were really famous witches when I was young," Draco said with a shrug. "My mother listened to their Wireless shows all the time. Rather a bore if you ask me."

Hermione stared at him with her mouth open, not moving.

Draco smirked as he stood. "Breathe, Granger," he said lightly. "The colour purple doesn't flatter your appearance any more than that hair does."

Hermione shut her mouth and looked around at the Gryffindor table. Several people were staring at her.

Letting out a growl, Hermione stood up and stormed from the Hall, leaving her raspberry pie lying untouched on her plate.

Hermione was thoroughly pleased when Arithmancy was over. She had been having trouble concentrating since lunch and all she wanted to do was head back to the common room, curl up on the couch and let her thoughts take over her existence.

However, in reaching the common room, she only felt worse; Draco would be back there at any moment and then her thought process would either be halted into numbness or sent into chaos. Dumping her bag beside an armchair, she sat down, her back to the entrance, and pulled out _Rosemary's Baby_ by Ira Levin, a muggle novel her mother had sent her the previous day.

"Draco, that mudblood is _scum_! How can you like that _thing_?"

Pansy's tearful shriek from outside the room was loud enough to reach Hermione's ears as though she were right beside her. Hermione had to assume the entrance had been opened before she spoke again, because her voice grew tremendously louder.

"All that hair! And the _teeth_! Do I need to remind you about her teeth?!"

Hermione felt fury well up inside her. Pansy obviously didn't know she was there or otherwise did not care. Hermione closed her book and placed it beside her on the chair, ready to jump in and defend herself if she needed to.

"Look Parkinson, I really don't want to talk about Granger –"

Hermione had stood. She watched the scene before her and as Draco's eyes met Hermione's she realized that she should have expected this event to unfold eventually anyway; the fire should have prepared her.

"_YOU!_" Pansy cried, tears staining her face. She ran forward, her arms raised as though ready to strangle.

Hermione was too quick for her. In one swift movement Hermione had her wand out and a protection charm between herself and the raging woman. Hermione composed herself and gave Pansy a large, toothy grin.

Pansy doubled back in surprise.

Hermione moved her eyes away from Pansy and instead looked at Draco who was watching the scene with a smirk.

"I assure you Pansy," Hermione said smoothly, "he's all yours."

With another grin, this time in Draco's direction, Hermione disappeared up the stairs to her room.

Once there, she paid little attention to the explosion that was taking place beneath her and instead grabbed _Oliver Twist_ off the shelf to read. She managed to read for several minutes before there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," Hermione called, not looking away from the book. She heard the door open and waited.

"Here I was expecting you to be naked and waiting for me," Draco smirked.

Hermione looked at him, a light blush covering your cheeks. Draco watched as the blush spread over her cheeks and as she looked away bashfully, Draco was mesmerised.

"I went and saw Snape," Draco said after a moment. "He has a collection of books that used to be in the Slytherin house common room. They're all on Salazar Slytherin."

"That sounds promising," Hermione replied, still not looking at him.

"They're all down in the study," he informed her. He put a smirk in place. "Don't you want to sift through them, cuddle them and kiss them?"

Hermione nodded and listened as he walked away. Slowly, she closed _Oliver Twist_ and followed him down the stairs. Reaching the study, she saw Draco sitting at a desk watching her. She gave a small smile and moved her gaze to the pile sitting beside him on the desk.

Walking forward, she sifted through the titles, grabbed one and started heading for the living area when Draco grabbed her hand and swung her around. Looking up into his eyes, Hermione felt her heart quicken and her breathing stop.

"Pansy's not going to hurt you," Draco said, his voice light. "I made sure she wouldn't."

"Did you commit cold-blooded murder, Draco?" Hermione did not mean to let his first name spill from her lips; it had just come out on its own. Hermione blamed the situation and his closeness.

Draco shuffled slightly closer to her and Hermione bit her lip. He was leaning forward before her hand rose to sit on his chest.

"No," she said in a strangled whisper. "_No._"

She lightly pushed at his chest as she took a step back.

"No."

She ran up the stairs and back to her room, the Salazar Slytherin book still in her hands. She did not hear Draco words as she left.

"I take it you're over Weasley, then."

**_ooo_**

The next days presented a lot of awkwardness between Draco and Hermione.

Horace Slughorn, who had always loved Hermione's talent, had decided to grant his favourite witch a real treat: working with Draco. As the two of them took turns in preparing the ingredients, Hermione was having a lot of trouble demonstrating her usual skill in potion making.

"Granger, if you're not careful you're going to make a Polyjuice Potion designed only for killing the drinker," Draco muttered as Hermione's hand shook, ingredient in hand.

"I know what I'm doing," Hermione replied firmly. "I've done this several times before."

"Yes – impersonated my dear late aunt at all lately?"

"Just last night," Hermione replied lightly. "Ron finds it a real turn on in the bedroom."

"My, my," Draco drawled lazily. "Did I just hear Hermione Granger's mind enter the gutter? Who ever would have thought?"

Hermione turned and glared at him but relaxed instantly at his smirk.

"Don't be ashamed, Granger," Draco continued. "I assure you that my presence has that affect on every woman."

Hermione pretended as though she did not hear.

"I also happen to know that you are over Weasley," Draco said. "And I doubt the two of you ever shagged. I mean you're a smart little witch and you would've known just by kissing him that his –"

"Pass me the lacewing flies, please, Malfoy," Hermione snapped.

"Dear Hermione, you know the words that get me going," Draco drawled in her ear, passing her the jar.

Hermione caught him off guard at that. Turning her face towards his, he suddenly found himself staring very closely into massive pools of dark cinnamon.

Hermione blinked bravely. "I didn't know Malfoys had such bizarre fetishes. Lacewing flies I ask you?"

"Watch that filthy month of yours, Granger," Draco retorted, "Or I'll get what I wanted from you last night."

Hermione backed away, bumping into their cauldron, her robes catching fire.

"Hermione!" Came Ron's frightened call across the dungeon but Hermione had already withdrawn her wand and extinguished the flames, composing herself.

Draco gave her a wicked smirk of triumph.

Hermione looked dazed for a moment before moving to the desk, casting a side-glance at Draco, who was still watching her.

Heart beating furiously, Hermione smiled while mentally kicked herself.

"Breathe, Hermione," she scolded herself quietly. "_Breathe._"


	10. Cravings

**Chapter Ten**

Draco decided that he rather liked to tease Hermione about her obvious attraction to him. True, he was quite sure that he himself had lost all the brains in his head to ever consider kissing her. If his mentally challenged brain had any sense whatsoever it would stay the hell away from her.

But instead, he initiated to be around her whenever possible. At the end of Arithmancy, he would stay behind as she slowly put her books away. As she left the room, he followed close behind before passing her and taking an obvious whiff of her long curls. Not only did this keep Hermione on edge, it also helped ease some of Draco's many cravings for the essence of Hermione Granger.

He especially enjoyed the fast tongue that was used when she finally went insane from his teasing.

"For the name of Merlin, Malfoy, what could possible be so interesting about my ear?!" she screeched as he sat right beside her on the couch in the common room and stared intensely at her ear lobe, where a single silver earring was glittering in the light.

Draco leaned closer and breathed in. The smell of her hair sent shivers down his spine in the most pleasant way.

Hermione shot up out of her seat and looked at Malfoy wildly. Draco smirked up at her. He loved a raging lioness.

He didn't quite listen to what she had to say. He only knew she was furious; the flush on her face did wonders for a certain part of his anatomy and her thick curls seems to prickle with currents of electricity. Once finished, Hermione slumped back down in her chair in a huff.

Draco noticed that she hadn't even tried to move further away from him; instead, she seemed to have moved closer. Draco smirked.

Hermione, noticing, merely glared.

**_ooo_**

Hermione was unscrewing and screwing the lid of the tub of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion that sat in her hand. She didn't know why she suddenly had the desire to use it; she certainly refused to believe Draco was the reason.

There was a knock on her door and Hermione hurriedly stuffed the tub in a book bag that lay nearby.

"Yes?" she called, turning to the door.

Draco opened the door and sidled in a few steps, a plate in his hands. "Not ready and waiting for me, Granger?" he drawled.

Hermione frowned. "I – What?"

"Innocence," Draco whispered to himself. He thought it would turn him off, but instead it did the opposite. "You weren't at dinner."

"So you assumed I was waiting for you?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Granger, if I said the word 'sex' would you scream and cover your ears like an immature eleven year old?"

"Sex? You want sex?"

Hermione scolded herself. _Why was she not thinking straight?_

Draco merely stared. Something was seriously wrong. He wanted to see fire in her eyes.

"I bought you back a plate," he said. He indicated the food in his hand. "You want it in here or downstairs?"

"Downstairs," Hermione replied. She stood, grabbed the plate from Draco's hand and headed on down the stairs.

Draco took a deep breath and looked around the room, trying to find evidence to what had gotten her in her current state.

Just as he was about to turn and head out of the room, his eyes caught a flash of bright purple protruding out of the book bag that sat on the floor beside where Hermione had been sitting a moment before. Heading over to it, he pulled it out. '_Sleekeazy's_' stood out in red on the label.

Draco pocketed it, not quite sure why.

Heading down the stairs to the common room, he noticed Hermione was only pecking lightly at her food. He took a seat next to her and stared blankly ahead.

"What's up, Granger?" Draco questioned.

Hermione took three tiny bites of pie before answering. "You."

Draco sat back and finally made the realization: _this was no longer a game._

"You're everywhere," Hermione continued after a moment.

"No I'm not," Draco said with his voice coming out in a slight snarl.

"You're everywhere I am," Hermione retorted, looking at him closely. "You follow me, you stare at me. That day in potions, _the night before_ that day in potions…"

"What are you saying, Granger?" Draco snarled, sitting up. "Are you saying I'm a stalker?"

"Well maybe I am!" Hermione exclaimed, glad for a reason to raise her voice. "You're constantly there, by my side, annoying me! You nose into my business! You're making me lose my head! Why Malfoy? _Why?_"

Hermione didn't know why she asked it – she knew the answer. Their presence together had the same affect on her. Just arguing with him created a fire in her that had never been associated with arguing with him before this year.

Draco said nothing. He merely sat back. Hermione picked up her fork and made to throw it down again. Draco grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Didn't know you were the violent type, Granger," he said, taking the fork from her with a swift movement of his other hand.

Hermione took one look at his hand holding hers, wishing he would pull it away but at the same time hoping that it stayed.

"Why?" Hermione could feel tears building but forced them not to.

"Sometimes things get out of control, Granger," Draco said. "I thought you were the wise one here?"

"You're just as wise," Hermione replied, drawing her hand away from his and sitting back. "If we don't get it into control soon then –"

"I am in control," Draco drawled confidently. "I was in control of my body when I was following you and staring at you, Granger!"

Hermione looked him in the face. "Why would you want to follow and stare at me, Malfoy? You're supposed to be _repulsed_ by me!"

Silence fell between them. Hermione slowly shifted to her right, creating some distance between them.

"I'm supposed to be repulsed by you," Draco murmured finally. "That doesn't mean I am."

Hermione just sat there silently, staring at the wall ahead, just as Draco was doing. Several minutes passed and neither made much movement. Hermione thought she felt Draco's hand twitch beside her but ignored it. After a while, the awkwardness got too intense and Hermione stood and headed for the stairs.

"Thanks for the food," she said softly before she disappeared.

Draco shifted and pulled the tub of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion from his pocket. Unscrewing the lid, he smelt the contents before closing it again. Aiming for the bin in the study, Draco threw the tub and it landed with a light _thud_ against the many screwed up pieces of parchment within it.

He preferred her hair without it.

**_ooo_**

Hermione was herself again by the next morning. She overslept slightly despite going to sleep earlier than normal but she had found that she had been coming over more fatigued than usual due to an increase in her emotions and her overly active hormones.

As she headed down the stairs, she noticed a large plate of pancakes sitting on the coffee table with several of Salazar Slytherin's books.

"I hope you don't mind, Granger," Draco said, "but I got us some food from the Great Hall. We need to get stuck into this bloody riddle. A few more months procrastinating and the year will be over."

"I don't procrastinate, Malfoy," Hermione said stiffly. "I take my time in theorising."

"Well no theories have proven helpful yet."

Hermione glared and grabbed a pancake. Tapping her wand against it, it smeared with honey.

"There is maple syrup on the table, Granger," Draco drawled, pointing at the bottle as though the bright orange label should have been more obvious for her eyes.

"Thank you, Malfoy but I had a craving for honey," Hermione said. "The house elves aren't likely to miss a tablespoon of honey."

Draco shrugged and sat down beside her. The last thing he wanted was the smell of honey on her lips.

"I think fire is our clue," Hermione said after having a mouthful.

"What does fire have to do with a baby, Granger?" Draco asked rather harshly. "We know Helena Ravenclaw didn't burn to death as a child."

"Love."

"What?"

"All the clues represent love."

"How do _we_ represent _love_, Granger?"

"The book, Malfoy: _Sense and Sensibility_, followed by Pansy fighting with you because she believed that there was something go on with us and then … _last night_."

"Last night?"

"The scene we saw with us on the couch. We fought and tried denying our feelings for each other. But it's obvious. They are there."

Draco was silent. He was not ready for this conversation. He hoped Hermione would change the subject.

"A baby is created by _making_ love," Hermione continued and Draco breathed out a sigh of relief. "Slytherin was writing a letter – a _love letter_ perhaps?"

"What about the mirror?" Draco asked. "Rowena Ravenclaw was in love with herself?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You said she was talking to someone in that vision."

"You think it was Slytherin?"

"Yes. Okay so what about the fire? How does fire represent love?"

"It represents passion," Hermione replied promptly.

"And passion represents love?" Draco drawled in disbelief.

Hermione merely nodded.


	11. Love

**Chapter Eleven**

"So how do we test this new theory of yours, Granger?" Draco asked. "If the answer to the riddle is love, how do we get that bloody stone? Do we have to dance naked in a circle chanting the bloody word?"

"I think an act of love would be more successful than that, Malfoy."

"Granger!" Draco cried sardonically. "Are you asking me to shag you?"

Hermione flushed red. Of course he would draw that conclusion.

"No – I – that's not my point, Malfoy."

Draco raised an eyebrow and made to untie his robes.

"What are you doing?" Hermione cried, jumping away from him on the couch.

"Well I prefer to shag naked," Draco smirked, "but if you have a fetish for fine cotton rubbing against your skin, I'm happy to grant your wish."

Hermione gaped at him. "That is _not_ necessary."

Draco thought that anything that sounded so much like Professor McGonagall would turn him off for the rest of his years as a pureblood wizard. He was wrong.

Draco stopped and stared at Hermione for a moment. She had his body in a complete twist.

Hermione recomposed herself. "I think maybe it goes beyond just doing something," she said. "I mean, you and Pansy have probably shagged down here –"

"Pansy may have dreamed of it but it never happened – _Ever_."

Draco didn't quite understand the sudden need to assure her of this.

"Never?" Hermione asked.

"Not with her," Draco replied.

"Who…?"

"Mandy," Draco said with a shrug. "Sixth year."

"Sixth? You found time to –"

"I needed it, Granger," Draco breathed. "Especially around the time of Potter's _Sectumsempra_ accident. It took my mind off things."

"You were dating Pansy –"

"Not during the later half."

Draco and Hermione looked at each other. "I don't know why I wanted to know –"

"Merlin, Granger," Draco said suddenly, his tone slightly strangled. He suddenly moved closer to her, startling her. "Why are we even bothering?"

"Bothering?" Hermione's breath was coming out fast and uneven.

Draco moved his head forward and gave her a light kiss on the lips. It was so soft and it was over so quickly that Hermione never got a chance to let it register.

Hermione's hand scooted to his chest and she pushed him away slightly. They looked into each other's eyes. Hermione bit her lip.

"It seems like the right thing to do," she whispered, hoping he would understand.

The last thing she had expected at that moment was for Draco to kiss her. Last night, they avoided admitting their feelings completely. It seemed that now all they wanted to do was have them out and clarified. It confused Hermione beyond belief.

Draco frowned at her words, not knowing what she had been referring to.

"Denying it seems like the right thing to do," Hermione elaborated, noticing his own confusion.

Draco picked up the fire stone abruptly and headed to the fire. With one swipe across it, an image of them kissing arose from the fire. They were surrounded by darkness but Hermione knew that they were at the entrance to the forbidden forest – she could make out a single branch of a tall tree.

"Denying it might not be effective enough in the future, Granger."

With that Draco left, heading up the stairs to mull over his thoughts.

Hermione sat back in the cushions of the couch in disbelief.

He actually seemed to want something to happen between them.

Brushing her fringe from her eyes, she stood and hurried out of the common room.

**_ooo_**

"Hermione, you can't have feelings for Malfoy!" Ginny cried.

"Why not?" Hermione questioned. "I'm human. He's human."

"This goes beyond humanity, Hermione."

"How so?"

"_He's Malfoy._"

Hermione took a deep breath. "A _changed_ Malfoy." She put a great deal of emphasis on the word 'changed'.

"A few days ago you were complaining about him following you," Ginny said, "and teasing you."

Hermione nodded. "Yes but I only complained because it made my whole body go haywire. I was going mad, Ginny!"

"Hermione, you're not thinking of…" Ginny hesitated for moment "…having sex with Malfoy?"

"I –"

"Who's having sex with Malfoy?" Harry had arrived.

Hermione panicked and quickly came up with an alternate conversation.

"I was just telling Ginny that Malfoy has never had sex –"

"Malfoy's a virgin?"

"No," Hermione snapped. "If you'd let me finish. He's never had sex with Pansy."

"So he does have taste then?" Harry asked, chuckling.

"Apparently," Ginny said with a twinkle in her eye as she pointedly gave Hermione a side-glance.

Harry was oblivious; he grabbed a banana and started unpeeling it.

"Speaking of shagging," Harry said, looking at Ginny. "Ron –" He looked at Hermione suddenly.

"Ron _what_, Harry?"

"Ron shagged Lavender," Harry replied after another moment of hesitation, "last night apparently."

They both waited for Hermione's reaction. She merely nodded and dropped her fork. "Well at least he has better taste than Malfoy, right?"

Ginny stood as Hermione stood. "I wouldn't say that if I were you, Hermione," she said, looking at her friend carefully.

Hermione looked at Ginny for a moment. She may have just shared her feelings with Ginny but she had not spoken a word of Draco's. Did Ginny possibly know? Was Draco possibly showing more outward signs that Hermione had noticed?

After a moment, Hermione gave Ginny a small nod and started to leave.

Ginny looked at Harry who was frowning, having just watched the scene before him. "Sorry Harry," she said and she started to follow Hermione. "Hermione!" she called.

Hermione didn't turn back.

**_ooo_**

Hermione stood hesitantly at Draco's bedroom door. Mustering up some courage, she raised her hand and quickly knocked.

Receiving no response, Hermione breathed out deeply and knocked again, her hand shaking.

Again no one answered. Summoning her courage, Hermione hesitantly turned the doorknob and opened the door a crack. When she still got no response, she pushed it open wide.

She had never seen Draco's room. It was exactly the same as her own only Draco's linens were silver and green rather than scarlet and gold. To her right sat a collection of issues of _The Daily Prophet_, all of which appeared to be from the summer following the end of the war.

Grabbing the top one, Hermione saw a photo of herself, Harry and Ron gazing up with small plaques in their hands. Gracefully crossing his room, she headed out onto the balcony where she stood at the railing, the newspaper open in her hands.

After several moments of pleasantly reading interviews she and her friends had conducted regarding the war, Hermione was startled to suddenly hear a voice behind her.

"I see you let yourself into my room, Granger."

Hermione hurried turned to look at Draco, the newspaper falling from her hands onto the balcony floor.

"I was looking for you," she explained hurriedly, scooping up the newspaper. She stared at the front page for a moment. "I thought you said you never read any of this?"

"I did after you told me to, Granger," Draco replied.

"I never told you to do anything," Hermione said. "I was just surprised is all…"

"Granger, we need to talk," Draco said abruptly. "We need to put up some good strong boundaries because I don't want this morning to repeat itself."

"Agreed," Hermione said with a nod. "However, I honestly don't think boundaries will do us much good. We've tried them before. I've tried avoiding you, I've tried to stop these feelings and I've most certainly tried to prevent anything like this morning from happening."

"Is there any brilliant ideas in that bushy head of yours then, Granger?" Draco watched her closely. She was standing quite confidently before him as though she had a bright idea in that very clever head of hers.

"We don't avoid each other," she said simply. "We remember how much we used to hate each other and go back to that."

"No," Draco said.

"No?" Hermione said. "Can I ask why not? We were both happy then."

"These feelings make me enjoy getting your knickers in a twist Granger," Draco replied simply. "Hating you would only make you all the more desirable."

"Well that's only because you're a disturbed little boy," Hermione snapped.

"I can assure you Granger, I am far from little," Draco smirked.

"Well then Mr Malfoy," she said smartly. "You're as wise as I am. What do you have in mind?"

Draco did not respond because if he said what were on his mind at that moment it would certainly break the boundaries they hadn't quite set yet.


	12. Boundaries

**Chapter Twelve**

By the next day, unspoken boundaries had been put in place.

Draco and Hermione each sat in separate chairs; if Draco was on the couch, Hermione was in an armchair. They also chose to completely avoid talking of anything but the riddle and kept the riddle's answer as a passing word only with very little discussion whatsoever.

At lunch, they left for the Great Hall separately and they avoided looking at each other at all. Hermione even told Ginny not to bring up Draco Malfoy or any other Slytherin, therefore allowing her brain to rest and think of something else for the first time in weeks.

"But this is serious, Hermione!" Ginny stated impatiently through clenched teeth.

"I don't want to talk about it even for a second, Ginny!" Hermione retorted in a hiss.

Ginny shut her mouth and changed the subject.

"What about Ron?" she asked. "Are you upset he slept with Lavender?"

"I wasn't surprised," Hermione said, relieved at the change of subject. "He and I broke up months ago. I haven't thought about it much."

"Because of Mal-?"

"I said _no_, Ginny!"

And with that Hermione got up and headed out of the Great Hall towards her Arithmancy class.

Reaching the corridor, she slowed her pace and continued onwards hesitantly when she saw Draco leaning on the wall by the door.

"Granger," he acknowledged as she reached him.

"Malfoy," she nodded.

"Have a good lunch?"

Hermione looked at him, pursing her lips tightly. "The pie was especially tasty today."

Draco nodded.

"Look, Granger," Draco pulled himself away from the wall, "I r-"

Lavender Brown's squealing laughter traveled around the corner at the end of the corridor, immediately followed by the blonde girl herself.

"Won-Won, don't tease me like that!"

Hermione looked away and avoided Draco's eyes.

"I'm not teasing, I'm _promising_," came Ron's much quieter tone.

"_Ooooh I can't wait!_"

"Hermione." Ron's voice cracked in noticing her and he came to a stop.

"Hullo Ron," Hermione said in a scathing tone. "Best not tease; poor _Lav-Lav_ will go purple with anticipation."

"I – yeah – right," Ron said, his ears red. "I'll see you later at dinner? Yeah – later…"

The redhead continued down the corridor with his girlfriend clinging to his arm and whispering in his ear.

"I thought you were over him?" Draco said, wishing at that moment that his smirk would obey him and appear on his lips.

"Not that it's your business but I am," Hermione snapped. "I just don't need the constant reminder as to how it went wrong in the first place."

"He's a Weasley," Draco sneered. "It was bound to go wrong."

Hermione looked at Draco with narrowed eyes. "The Weasleys are my friends –"

"That doesn't mean they have to be mine, Granger."

They gazed at each other a moment before looking away abruptly when a new group of students came round the corner towards them.

**_ooo_**

"… How about the Astronomy Tower?" Draco suggested. "A secret closet?"

"Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw make a secret _closet_?" Hermione repeated disbelievingly. "I think they would have had more taste than that."

"Fine – Ravenclaw has secret quarters like these ones," Draco said impatiently. "Granger, we're pulling ideas out of thin air here –"

"That's precisely what brainstorming _is_, Malfoy," Hermione snapped. "All the ideas are within reason. I mean a _closet_ is a little unflattering for them but being a closet connecting to the Astronomy Tower I suppose it's _quite_ romantic."

"I never thought of you as the Astronomy Tower kind, Granger."

"That's because I'm _not_," Hermione retorted. Her tone relaxed as she continued in a mumble. "Lakes and trees do it for me."

"_Really_?" Draco smirked. "How very alike you and I are, Granger."

"I thought we agreed not discuss these kinds of subjects, Malfoy?" Hermione questioned uncomfortably.

"I don't remember us coming to any agreements, Granger."

These words were followed by silence. Hermione sat there, scribbling ideas onto parchment while Draco laid back on the couch, his ankles crossed and his hands crossed behind his head.

In between thoughts of the riddle, its answer and where Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw may have hidden a stone containing Slytherin's power, Hermione thought of the one thing she had been trying desperately not to think about: Draco.

As she sat in the armchair grabbing random ideas out of the air, she couldn't help but realise that her relationship with Draco had become exactly how she could imagine Ravenclaw's and Slytherin's would have been. True, she and Draco had never held a friendship like the one described in books on the founders. But they had always had their differences in opinion, beliefs and mannerisms.

It was now that Hermione realized how she and Draco had seemed to have put the majority of that behind them. She no longer felt the need to slap his face or laugh at him about being turned into a ferret. In fact, Hermione realized, Draco had helped her to grow up, accept the past and look only to the future.

"Oi, Granger," Draco suddenly said, "have you still got that mirror that got fried by the basilisk?"

"No, I don't," Hermione said tiredly. "Do you honestly think I wanted to keep that as a reminder of what I saw?"

"Just thought maybe it might help us," Draco replied offhandedly.

"How could it possibly help?" Hermione questioned, looking at Malfoy with narrowed eyes.

"Well it's related to Salazar Slytherin and there's a mirror in one of the memories –"

"It's related to Slytherin because I made it be!" Hermione snapped. "Now if you're not going to be of any help – _leave_!"

Draco smirked and only made himself more comfortable.

**_ooo_**

A week later Hermione was in ruins. After months of slowly adjusting to life after the war, Hermione found herself falling back into misery. Her world was once more filled with images of Voldemort, Harry's presumed dead body lying at Hagrid's feet, Fred lying lifeless covered in debris from a crumbled wall and Draco lying on the ground, coughing and spluttering and choking out Vincent Crabbe's name.

Hermione often contemplated what was causing it. The images appeared in her mind so clearly, as though she was watching it all over again. She had stopped carting one of Salazar's stones with her, believing that perhaps it was these that were causing her to relive them so vividly.

"I thought you'd stopped having crazy moments, Granger," Draco suddenly said, noticing from across the common room.

"Why don't you hang around with Goyle anymore?" Hermione asked abruptly. "He hasn't been here for ages…"

"Well after Crabbe –"

"He's dead," Hermione said, "Goyle isn't."

"I still hang with him in class –"

"But not as much as you once did."

"Granger, is it really your business?" Draco suddenly snarled. "The war changed everyone even if some of us can't admit it. I changed. I don't want to be part of any of it anymore."

Hermione fell silent and allowed the memory of the Room of Requirement from the year previous filled her head.

"_Don't kill him! DON'T KILL HIM!" _

The words were followed by the scene with Draco hiding behind a wardrobe and then Draco dragging Goyle's stunned body as quickly as he could, away from the fiendfyre. Then she saw him clutching Goyle on top of a tower of charred desks.

Hermione came back to earth and saw Draco standing over her, looking at her closely.

"You asked them not to kill Harry," she said softly, looking at him.

"Granger –"

"Whose side were you on?" Hermione whispered. "You told me you wanted Voldemort gone but did you really want Harry to succeed?"

"Yes," Draco said firmly. "From the moment I pointed my wand at Dumbledore on the tower, I was on Potter's side. I was just too scared."

Hermione watched him as he slumped down onto the couch beside her.

"I was a coward," Draco continued. "You saw me at the manor; I didn't know what to do. In the Room of Hidden Things, I was caught between seeing you, Potter and Weasley die at the hands of my friends or handing you to the Dark Lord and hoping you'd escape and kill him. You call me wise… Well I'm not, Granger."

"You are," Hermione insisted. "The war has helped you mature, Malfoy. You stand on your own two feet now."

Draco looked into Hermione's eyes again. "Weasley's not wise at all."

"You know to stay clear of that subject, Malfoy," Hermione warned.

"I was just stating the obvious, Granger," Draco replied. "His every action reflects it."

Hermione smiled as she tried to block out images of herself and Ron from the last three years. She was unsuccessful; her mind flashed from images of watching him make out with Lavender in the common room days after she asked him to Slughorn's Christmas party, to the night he abandoned her and Harry the year before, to the time they kissed in the Room of Requirement. Finally her mind paused on watching him walk away with Lavender clinging to his arm outside her Arithmancy class.

"I should have shot birds at him again..." As the words left Hermione's mouth, Draco laughed, causing Hermione to do nothing but stare, surprised.

He stopped abruptly when he noticed her gaze and as their eyes connected, they each looked away.

The unspoken boundaries had been broken again.


	13. Amortentia

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Something's going on."

"What do you mean?"

"Where's that Parkinson girl, then?"

"She's a Muggleborn Gryffindor!"

"So? People say he's changed…"

"He _is_ Head Boy..."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Every time she and Draco left the common room together, people jumped to conclusions.

On this particular day, she and Draco had accidentally run into each other in the library where they each separately gone to work on their current Potions essay.

"Granger," Draco acknowledged, taking a book from the shelf and quickly flipping through the pages.

"Malfoy," she said, scanning the shelf. "You haven't seen _Moste Potente Potions_ have you?"

Draco held up the book in his hands.

"Oh," Hermione said. "Were you planning on using it?"

"Yes, Granger," Draco replied gently. "No book is better in explaining the effects of Amortentia."

"That's true," Hermione nodded. "Well do you mind if I borrow it after in the common room?"

"Sure," Draco replied, "I was heading there now."

"Oh." Hermione hesitated a moment. "Okay."

Together they headed out of the library, Hermione awkwardly playing with her hands. Classes had only just ended and there were still quite a number of students in the corridors.

"I heard they _share_ living quarters," whispered one staring second year.

"Maybe they're just doing one of their duties, Clarissa."

"Duties? They still have their bags."

Draco and Hermione looked at each other and walked slightly faster, Draco nearly bumping into a fifth year girl who was watching them with narrowed eyes.

"He is so hot," she muttered to her friend after they had passed. "What on earth does he see in _her_?"

Hermione stared daggers at the girl, who quickly dashed away.

**_ooo_**

"Granger, tell me what you smell," Draco demanded over the misty cauldron where the smoke was rising in hypnotizing spiral shapes.

"New parchment, freshly mowed grass and – oh this is ridiculous. _It's working._ That's all we need to know. We shouldn't have to answer these silly questions!"

"Granger, if you don't say it I'm just going to write my full name and keep the rumour mill happy," Draco threatened.

"What do you smell then?" Hermione demanded.

"That's my business, Granger," Draco replied.

Hermione glared at him before looking at the next task. "We have to try it?" she hissed. "It's illegal!"

"The Ministry believes it safe under controlled conditions, Miss Granger," Slughorn called merrily. "I have the counter-potion right here."

Hermione and Draco looked at each other. "Well it's got my hair in it Granger and I'm already quite fond of myself so why don't you take a sip?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes and looked around. Many students had already taken the plunge. Neville was currently running around his cauldron avoiding Pansy's advances.

"Okay," Hermione sighed to herself, filling a small glass. "One sip."

She hesitated for a long moment, Draco watching her closely. Quickly, she took a sip.

It tasted like the world's greatest tasting hot chocolate. It melted in her mouth and spread through her every vein. She felt completely calm and relaxed.

Draco watched her as she turned to him, knowing he would have to stop her advances to avoid people knowing about his feelings for her.

"You're beautiful," Hermione said breathlessly, raising a hand and touching his cheek.

Draco froze. She had him completely in her bind the moment she touched him. "Granger," he croaked. "Don't do this."

He knew it was hopeless; she was under the power of the potion. He could not stop her unless she was given the counter-potion right that moment.

"Draco…" she whispered, stepping closer.

Draco could feel people watching them, feeling Ron's glare and Harry's wide eyes penetrating him.

"Granger –" he warned. "You don't want to do this. You would normally refuse to do this…"

And she stopped. Looking at him carefully for a moment, her brain was in a fog. "Malfoy?" she said, looking confused. She took a step back. "Surely it hasn't warn off…"

"Miss Granger, you fought it!" Slughorn announced tremendously. "So much talent – I'm not surprised! Wonderful, _wonderful_…"

Draco and Hermione looked at each other for a minute, giving each other calculating looks.

"I still feel weird," Hermione said, frowning. "I still feel like the potion made me feel."

Slughorn stopped his chants of 'wonderful' and looked at her. "Still feel –?" he looked from Draco to Hermione. "Then how…? What were you saying to her Mr Malfoy?"

"That she didn't want to do it," Draco replied.

Slughorn looked confused and then looked at Hermione. "Oh."

It seemed the large professor had realized the answer to his own question. "Very well," he said. "It is possible to fight it the way you did. Yes, very possible that the potion couldn't take complete control of her…"

The entire class was watching him, waiting for an explanation. But it did not come. With one last look at Draco and Hermione, he turned to the rest of the class.

"Class dismissed for today. You can get a early start on homework."

The class filed out, leaving Draco and Hermione with Slughorn.

"What caused me to resist, Professor?" Hermione asked.

"Amortentia is a powerful love potion, Hermione," Slughorn explained. "But it seems it was not really required for you."

Hermione frowned. "_Feelings_, Hermione," Slughorn elaborated, looking between her and Draco. "Strong feelings for the person whose essence resides in the potion will render the potion much less effective as the love is already beginning to build naturally."

"Oh." Hermione looked at Draco. He was already heading for the door.

She followed him silently to the common room. She knew he was tense and she knew he had something to say so she felt the need to get it out of the way sooner rather than later.

"Dammit, Granger!" he yelled, throwing down his book bag. "Why the hell did that happen?"

"Professor Slughorn said –"

"Yes I heard what Slughorn said," Draco hissed. "He said you have feelings for me. How could he know, Granger?"

"He knows because it's obvious, Malfoy!" Hermione retorted. "Feelings are the only thing that could have possibly have caused that potion to have such a small effect. Why are you so upset about Professor Slughorn knowing? No one else knows!"

"Yes they do, Granger!" Draco snarled. "The whole bloody school knows! The rumours have to come from somewhere, Granger!"

"The rumours have come from people suddenly seeing us being civil to each other!" Hermione cried. "They watched us for years, fighting against each other! Then suddenly we come back from the war and we can tolerate each other! People are going to talk and come to wild conclusions, Malfoy!"

"The Weasley girl looks at me weird every time I see her," Draco said. Hermione got the idea that he was not going to let up. "Have you told _her_ you're falling for me?"

Hermione remained silent for a moment. "Yes, I have," she said calmly. "And I trust she hasn't said a word. Harry would be the first to know if she had said anything and I know Harry. Harry would confront me about it if he knew. _And he hasn't._"

Draco nodded. "Maybe we should stay clear of each other from now on –"

"Malfoy, we've tried that and we were unsuccessful," Hermione insisted. "With us working on this Slytherin project together and then Professor Slughorn making us Potions partners…"

"Fine," Draco snapped. "We'll just have to make do with the rumours…"

"Why are you so afraid of the real feelings getting out, Malfoy?" Hermione questioned as he went to retrieve his book bag.

Draco looked at her a moment. "The same reason we're denying them."

Hermione considered him a moment. "Because if we admit them we will act on them?" she suggested. This was the only explanation she could come up with that explained the situation. "Not because of your father?"

Draco looked at her. "My father is in prison," he sneered with narrowed eyes. "I'm sure you were there when that got decided."

"We reduced that sentence for him, Malfoy," Hermione stated in defense. "He was a Death Eater and he escaped his original prison sentence. Time needed to be served. If I remember rightly, your mother thanked us for that –"

"She thanked you from getting me out of serving time," Draco hissed. "She did not thank you for putting my father back in that place."

Hermione took two steps towards him, scanning his face. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "But there was nothing else we could do for your father, Malfoy."

Draco relaxed. "I know." He pulled his bag onto one shoulder. "See you in Arithmancy, Granger."

Hermione nodded and watched him disappear through the exit.


	14. Truth

**Chapter Fourteen**

"Harry," Ginny said nervously, "there's something I have to tell you."

Harry stopped midway through his story about Hermione, Draco and the Amortentia.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's about Hermione," Ginny said slowly. "Harry, I really need you to stay calm but Hermione –"

"Is in love with Malfoy?" Harry finished for her.

"Well love is a very strong word, Harry," Ginny said, sitting up. "Love is what you and I share. Hermione … Hermione has _feelings_ for Malfoy."

"She told you this?" Harry asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Not in so many words," Ginny explained. "It was more a conversation about her _thinking_ she had feelings for Malfoy –"

"The day Malfoy's sex life was discussed?" Harry asked, remembering the day.

Ginny beamed at him. "Yes, exactly –"

"Hermione's shagging Malfoy?" Harry asked incredulously. "What the hell is she _thinking?_!"

"Calm down, Harry!" Ginny cried, looking around the Gryffindor common room carefully. Thankfully the few students that were there weren't paying them any attention. "Hermione isn't shagging anyone. She just has feelings for Malfoy."

Harry scanned his girlfriends face. "Why are you telling me this Ginny?"

Ginny sat back slightly. "Because if the Amortentia story you were telling me is true than I thought you ought to prepare yourself for unpleasant news."

Harry groaned. "_Why Malfoy?_" he asked. "Her and Ron were –"

"A disaster," Ginny finished for him. "Besides, Malfoy's changed."

**_oooooo_**

"Oh, _Lav_, just a little bit longer…"

Draco and Hermione stood quietly, staring at the door to the closest room to the Ravenclaw common room.

"I think I am going to be sick," Hermione breathed.

"Please, Ron, my jaw is starting to seize up," a female voice whined from the same room.

Draco gagged slightly.

"Just a couple more minutes, Lavender. _Please…_"

"We should go," Hermione stated bluntly, looking at Draco. "Please can we go…?"

As they headed away, Draco looked at Hermione. "Please tell me you didn't give Weasley that same treatment."

"Whatever that treatment was," Hermione stated, her tone dripping with disgust, "I didn't come close to giving it to Ron."

"That treatment was –"

"I know what it was, Malfoy," Hermione snapped. "I just don't like thinking about Ron receiving it."

"Brown's rubbish at it anyway," Draco assured her.

"_How would you know?!_" Hermione cried, staring at him in a panic.

"Nott told me last year," Draco explained. "Apparently he was all in the mood and yet it took him ages to c-"

"Stop right there, Draco Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Granger, stop being a prude," Draco complained. "You'll ruin my fantasies."

"You have fantasies about Lavender Brown?!" Hermione screeched. "I thought your fetish for lacewing flies was disturbing enough –"

"Not Brown," Draco said quietly, avoiding her eyes. "I am a healthy male with healthy images in my head about an apparently prudent witch."

Hermione flushed. "Well I'll just have you know that all fantasies are to remain within that head of yours."

They had reached their common room and Hermione raised her stone to allow them entrance.

"We'll have to head back there some night Weasley isn't getting lucky," Draco yawned, gracefully taking a seat on the couch beside Hermione.

Hermione nodded, reaching for a book when suddenly there was a knock from the entrance.

"Hermione, it's me!" Called Ginny's voice. "Can I come in?"

Hermione looked at Draco who, sneering slightly, nodded his head.

"I'm coming, Ginny!"

Hermione opened the entrance and there stood Ginny looking extremely happy with herself.

"I just shag-"

"Two Weasleys and Potter are getting laid tonight?" Draco cried aggressively, looking over in disbelief. "This is far more information than my head can handle, Weasley!"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Ginny snapped. "I'm talking to _Hermione_. Just because we're getting more than you ever have."

"You were saying, Ginny?" Hermione asked, guiding her into an armchair and sitting back down in her seat at the couch.

"I shagged Harry," she said. "It just happened. We were just snogging and then Harry started to undress me. It was really nice too. Harry was so careful –"

"Only because he wanted to beat Weasley's two second average –" Draco interrupted. Ginny ignored him.

"- But it still hurt a little. But Hermione, after a while it feels really good."

Hermione flushed. The subject of sex was flying around a little too much for Hermione's liking.

"Have you -?" Ginny started.

"No, Ginny, I haven't," Hermione sniffed. "I don't feel I'm really."

She looked at Draco, who was looking back at her, suddenly speechless. Ginny, who was not oblivious to the tension, decided a subject change was in order.

"Dean and Luna broke up today," Ginny said. "I thought I'd let you know because you were –"

"No, Ginny, I wasn't," Hermione said quickly. "But please – go on – why did Dean and Luna break up?"

"Well they were always an odd couple anyway…"

Draco blocked out the conversation entirely. He looked up occasionally when Hermione moved in her seat or accidentally nudged him, but all in all he was content with his thoughts. The girl beside him was becoming positively breathtaking. She was so unlike any other girl he had ever known. She was intelligent and she was wise, she was beautiful and she was strong.

He certainly admired her ability to understand her own feelings, her own thoughts and he own intentions. As Ginny said goodbye and sent a contemptuous look Draco's way, he came out of his thoughts. Hearing Hermione sigh heavily beside him, he moved his hand so it covered hers.

Hermione jumped and looked up to be greeted with Draco watching her again. She was suddenly struck with just how beautiful he was. His white blonde hair looked soft and inviting, while his face was almost flawless and highly attractive, though Hermione could see a very faint scare running across the right side of his face. Hermione understood that it was from Harry's Septumsempra curse two years previous and felt a lump rise in her throat. She immediately shifted her gaze so she looked straight into eyes which, at that moment appeared to be calculating and content.

"You're better off waiting until you're ready, Granger," he said lightly. And in his head he realised that he admired her for being so proud, so determined and so decided.

"Thank-you, Malfoy," she said as Draco pulled his hand away.

That moment between them kept Hermione's brain busy all night.

**_ooo_**

"You honestly think the rumours are true?" A third year hissed.

"Of course, _look_ at them!"

"Since when have Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger had breakfast together?"

"They did at Christmas!" A Hufflepuff chimed in.

"Yes but no one was here then! Why _now?_"

"Draco Malfoy is _not_ dating Hermione Granger!"

"Oh please, Kaia, just admit you're jealous already!"

Draco sat beside Hermione at the Gryffindor table, causing a great deal of stares from all tables.

Harry coughed, exchanging a glance with Ginny. "So – err – Malfoy," he said, "how's your mother doing?"

"She's doing well, Potter," Draco replied rather awkwardly. "She's taken a liking to golf. Never would have thought she would consider trying a muggle sport but it is becoming common with us wizard folk."

"Golf?" Harry repeated, nodding in a way he hoped showed interest. "Really?"

"Your uncle likes golf doesn't he Harry?" Ginny piped in.

"No, Ginny," Harry said, directing his gaze to her. "He likes his Japanese Golfer joke. Not playing golf."

"Oh," Ginny frowned. "And Hermione, you're well?"

Hermione, who had been frowning at Harry and Ginny for the past ten minutes merely narrowed her eyes. Ginny shifted uncomfortably under her gaze and grinned at Draco nervously.

Draco twitched and looked at Hermione. "I'm going to go, Granger," he stated blandly. "Thanks for keeping me away from Parkinson."

"Just keeping the rumour mill happy, Malfoy," Hermione muttered, not looking at him.

As he headed away, Hermione turned on Harry and Ginny. "What was that?!" she cried in a whisper.

Harry sighed in relief. "Ginny told me you're falling for him –"

"Ginny told you, did she?" Hermione hissed. "She really had no right to say –"

"Hermione, everyone knows anyway," Ginny said hurriedly. "They're not just rumours anymore. People know it's the truth."

"The truth is that everyone should stay out of my affairs!" Hermione snapped, standing up. "Including you two!"

Hermione threw down her napkin and headed for the exit.


	15. Decisions

**Chapter Fifteen**

The next week saw things grow substantially between Draco and Hermione. Parvati and Lavender were beside themselves in excitement at seeing Draco at the Gryffindor table not once during the week but twice. The second time had been dismally interrupted by Pansy coming over and tearfully screaming at him about his betrayal.

This had caused Draco to realise that this method wasn't the best method of hiding from the Slytherin girl's wrath. So he spent all meals at the Slytherin table once more, gloomily listening to Pansy's many complaints and putting up with her hand constantly stroking his thigh.

"The Mudblood's friends are looking at you again, Draco," she simpered, causing Draco to look their way. Harry and Ginny were each giving him glances as though waiting for him to do something they didn't approve of. "It's almost like they think you and Granger are together. Like they're checking up on you…"

Draco nodded, not realizing he had just agreed with Pansy. Though he had to admit it was very rare for her to ever use her brains the way she just had.

"You're not with Granger are you, Draco?" Pansy simpered in a whisper, moving in to lick his ear.

Draco flinched away. "Yes," he said and he stood. Pansy was gaping at him.

"Yes it looks like they're checking up on me," Draco elaborated.

"So you and Granger –" Pansy started.

Draco turned his eyes to the back of Hermione's curly head. He simply shrugged and headed off towards the exit. He was completely oblivious to the many gaping mouths that followed him from the Slytherin table.

**_ooo_**

"Malfoy," Hermione sighed heavily as she headed into their common room that night. "Why is there a bunch of gossiping girls outside this room?"

"They followed me, Granger," Draco replied from the study.

"_Why?_"

"Bloody Pansy!" Draco exclaimed. "The witch got the wrong idea from something I said this morning."

"Did you tell her you like fifth year girls running around in your wake?" Hermione questioned, smirking.

"No, I didn't reply to her question in a way that satisfied her," Draco said.

"Malfoy, please _explain_!" Hermione snapped. "They'll have cameras out there soon!"

"Well first she noticed Potter and the Weasley girl looking my way as though they were checking on me," Draco drawled, "and I said 'yes', meaning I agreed with her but that was after she asked the question whether you and me are together. I then told her what I meant and she asked me again..."

"_And…?_" Hermione asked testily, narrowing her eyes at him. "What did you _say_?"

"I – nothing," Draco said, avoiding her gaze. "I may have shrugged but no words left this delicious mouth of mine, Granger!"

"So the girls outside…?"

"Pansy's been making rumours out of the conversation," Draco growled. "Apparently I've been cheating on Pansy and you and I are together 'in a manner of speaking'."

"You're back with –"

"No, Granger," Draco hissed. "Pansy's a bloody drama queen – she created rumours out of other rumours."

"What other rumours?" Hermione questioned. "What other rumours?"

"The ones about me and Pansy – the ones that have been circulating since third year," Draco explained.

"Oh – _those_ ones." Hermione smiled innocently.

"Don't flatter yourself, Granger," Draco sneered. "Not all the rumours circulating this castle involve you."

"They all seem to involve you," Hermione stated dryly.

"Not the one about Susan Bones," Draco snapped.

"Really because I'm quite sure I heard Lavender considering you as the father of Susan's unborn child," Hermione retorted.

"I'm a popular man, Granger," Draco smirked. "Women love me for being bad and I have to keep my reputation somehow when I'm Head Boy and you're in the picture. People might think I'm losing my touch."

"Are you saying you're feeding the –"

"_Joking_, Granger," Draco stated plainly. "People just want me to be at the middle of a scandal."

"_Right_," Hermione breathed. "So tell me why you didn't answer Pansy?"

"Because I wasn't about to lie about it."

"But we're not –"

"That's not the point –"

"What is then?!" Hermione cried. "You wouldn't have been lying had you said no."

"One day it will be a lie, Granger."

"One day -?" Hermione stopped and stared at him, realizing what he meant. "OH!"

Draco headed to the stairs. "I'll be in my room, Granger," he told her. "Knock three times if you need me."

Hermione nodded and collapsed onto the couch, staring at the empty fireplace, Draco's words filling her head.

"One day it will be a lie": To Hermione it sounded as though he wanted them to be together, that he saw them together in the future. This thought made Hermione bite her lip. She had considered it – several times in fact. The moments studying and the moments on the couch, she often imagined that they were already together, bonded in some significant way.

Now, as she thought about his words, she almost believed they were an invitation.

Hermione thought about the way they had each responded to the moments where they had temporarily lost control of their feelings. Had they not gained control again, would Hermione have to even think about what he had said? Would she need to even consider what might come for them in the future?

Hermione continued to stare at the fireplace. She thought back to some of the things the fire had showed them, the moments that had passed and the moment that was still to come. What else could it possibly show her?

Hermione sat forward and grabbed the fire stone from the coffee table. Twirling it in her hands, she considered, just for a moment, lighting a fire and seeing what it had to show. Her eyes caught sight of one of the many candles floating in the room and she hesitated. What if it showed something she was not willing to know about?

Closing her eyes, she stood and headed over to the candle, the stone in her hand. Taking a deep breath, she swiped the stone through the air before it and jumped back. The flame exploded, growing bigger until it was large enough to show what it had to show:

Draco stood before her on the doorstep to her parent's house, running a light hand through her hair; she was wearing muggle clothes and she was smiling. Smirking, Draco leaned forward and captured his lips with his.

As the picture disappeared, Hermione came to her decision. That vision was still about three months down the track. For her to be at her parent's house she must have graduated and it was currently only March.

Standing, Hermione thought about the vision that had come before this one. She had been in muggle clothes in that one also. Running to the stairs, Hermione skipped them two at a time and reached the top in moments. Flinging open her door, she started stripping off and rummaging through her drawers. Pulling out a jumper and jeans, she pulled them on, looked in the mirror and breathed a sigh, suddenly nervous.

"You know, Granger, I have never seen a witch dress so damn quickly," Draco stated from the door.

Hermione spun and looked at him, flushed. "What are you -"

"Relax, Granger, I only saw the jumper go on," Draco smirked. "You weren't even facing me."

"I didn't say you could watch –"

"Next time, close the door then," Draco drawled, a smirk evidently trying to fight its way onto his lips.

Hermione opened her mouth and looked at the door. "Oh," she whispered in realisation.

"You're liking that word at the moment, aren't you?"

Hermione numbly stood there, a hand nervously running through her hair.

"I'm heading out to the lake," she announced, her voice slightly broken and a blush spreading over her cheeks.

"The lake?" Draco repeated, taking in her flush. "I didn't realize you were seeing anyone…"

Hermione blushed brighter. "Oh, I'm not."

"That's what Susan Bones said," Draco said, trying to keep his voice casual. "You know it's alright, Granger, we all move on in our different ways. In fact, I was considering going off and shagging Mandy –"

Hermione grabbed his hand to stop him. "I'm headed out to the lake," she repeated very softly. "I'm going to sit by the forest and wait for my future to catch up with me."

Draco frowned before her words until they made sense to him. As it dawned on him, he squeezed her hand. "Oh."

Hermione smiled nervously, released her hand from his grip and headed out of the room and down the stairs, not knowing exactly where this idea, and the courage involved, had come from.


	16. Kissing

**Chapter Sixteen**

Draco stared at the place Hermione had disappeared for several minutes.

He couldn't quite believe that the moment had finally come where he finally received what he had been waiting for all year. _She was waiting for him._

Quickly deciding he was going to follow her, Draco descended the stairs and crossed the common room without looking back. Outside stood a single fifth year, who gasped and ran away when she saw him. Rolling his eyes, he made his way to the entrance hall, where an unforeseen interruption was met.

"Malfoy," Ginny Weasley called from the top of the marble staircase. "I want to talk to you about Hermione."

"No time, Weasley," he replied, though he came to a stop, looking at her. "Someone is waiting for me."

"Malfoy, Hermione's my best friend and I'm worried about her sudden –"

"No need to be worried, Weasley," Draco insisted. "You can trust me more with Granger than you could have trusted your own brother with her."

Ginny gaped at his sudden openness. "So this is really happening?" she gasped. "You and Hermione are –"

"Yes, Weasley," Draco snapped. "We are. Now, someone is waiting for me."

"I'll see you later than," Ginny said, dazed. "And Malfoy, isn't the whole 'Granger' thing a bit old now you guys are –?"

"Even in the throws of passion I will still call her 'Granger', Weasley," Draco sneered.

"_Oh-Kay_," Ginny drew out uncertainly and she headed out of sight.

Draco stood silently for a moment before he headed for the doors and walked smoothly out onto the grounds. Running his hand through his hair, he made straight for the lake, where he could already see Hermione seated by the forest. He walked faster.

When she noticed him, she stood, leaving beside her a book. She took a few hesitant steps towards him until they were finally in front of each other.

"Granger," he growled and his lips were on hers. He knew that for a moment the kiss would have been rather harsh, demanding but once he relaxed and realized that he was finally – FINALLY kissing Hermione Granger, the whole kiss relaxed and he drew his arms around her gently.

If he was honest with himself and not wanting to sound too much like a romantic fool, he'd say it was the best feeling of his life – her lips kissed his in such a unique and wonderful way it made his body sing, his breath hitch and his heart to do a thousand somersaults. His entire body tingled and itched from the sensation and the warmth of his blood rose to feverish levels.

"Gods," he heard Hermione gasp as he repositioned his lips. Hermione seemed to be clinging to him for dear life. Her kisses were pleading, as though she thought she might die if he moved his lips from hers.

Draco slowed the kiss, allowing himself to breathe but it was still too much. Pulling away carefully, he looked at Hermione, who opened her eyes and looked at him.

"That was –"

"Yeah."

"Malfoy," Hermione started. "I really want this."

"_Finally_ we agree, Granger," Draco breathed.

Hermione scanned his features and was suddenly familiar with the man she had seen in the vision. The affection she had seen in the doorstep vision was suddenly pooled in his eyes and on his face.

"You're beautiful," she whispered.

When Draco did not respond, Hermione made to apologize, only to find her words were blocked by Draco's lips once more. He guided her back slightly, pinning her gently to a tree nearby. He quickly drew back and checked that she was fine with this position before taking her mouth with his once more.

Across the surface of the lake, the sun was slowly setting, casting an orange glow over them but they were completely oblivious. They just continued kissing.

"Granger?" Draco asked after several more moments, pulling away and looking at her. "_Why_ did you bring a book with you?"

He looked around at the book that lay on the ground beside where Hermione had sat before his appearance.

"I – Well I didn't know if you'd show," Hermione said innocently. "So I brought myself something to do while I waited."

"_And…_?" he questioned, not quite knowing exactly what he was referring to in saying it.

"And I know where Slytherin and Ravenclaw hid the stone," she said.

Draco stood back, surprised by her response. "Where?"

Hermione smiled and looked behind her. "They have a cottage in this forest."

"How do you –?"

"I considered the clues. Above the babies head was a window –"

"And the window showed nothing but trees," Draco finished for her

Hermione grinned, nodding. "Shall we let Professor McGonagall know?"

Draco smirked. "Not just yet."

He swooped down and captured her lips once more.

**_ooo_**

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the looks they received from the students as she and Draco headed into the Great Hall for a late dinner that night. Spotting Harry and Ginny doing homework over pudding, Hermione made towards them, dragging a stubborn Draco with her.

Harry and Ginny looked up at them in unison, taking in their appearances, question on their faces.

"Malfoy, when you said –"

"We are," Draco drawled.

"Your lips look bee-stung –"

"I assure you I am harmless, Weasley."

"Watch out, Pansy's just entered the Hall," Harry said, looking at the entrance. "She's been popping her head in every three minutes."

Draco picked up his fork and used it to play with his pie.

"You're going to have to let the rest of the school know eventually, Malfoy," Ginny hissed. "Start with her – the word will spread like wild fire."

"Pansy won't take kindly to confirmation of her fears, Ginny," Hermione said, staring at the Slytherin from across the room. Her eyes widened. "Oh no – she's coming over!"

Harry and Ginny dropped their quills and grabbed their wands from the table.

"Draco," Pansy simpered, reaching the table, "why are you sitting with _them_?"

Draco looked at her. "What do you want, Parkinson?" he snarled.

"Well I wanted to talk to you –"

"I don't believe there is anything to be discussed, Pansy." Draco's voice dripped with venom; Hermione suddenly realised exactly why she did not miss having such harshness directed at her.

"But this morning –"

"You spread rumours about me and Granger," Draco finished for her, standing up. "Rumours that are really based on the truth so we don't really mind."

"Based on the –?"

"_Truth_, Parkinson!" snarled Draco. "Granger and I are, _in a manner of speaking_, together. Now relieve me of your presence!"

Pansy stood stiffly, gaping at Draco as he continued eating the pie in front of him. She mouthed wordlessly for a moment before letting out a great sob.

Harry looked up at her. "You heard the man, Pansy," he said. "Relieve us of your presence – this pudding isn't going down smoothly as it is."

Ginny snorted and Pansy dashed away, a series of noisy sobs following her out of the Great Hall.

Draco looked at Hermione. "You seriously owe that witch a flock of mad birds, Granger," he said lightly.

"Make it vultures this time will you, Hermione?" Ginny asked, a serene smile gracing her lips.

**_ooo_**

News of Draco and Hermione spread like wild fire the next day. Gasps were heard aimlessly around the Great Hall at breakfast and the teachers seemed oddly interested in speaking to any student who was 'in the know' about the whole situation. Pansy came over looking entirely bee-stung with swollen red eyes and cheeks and unkempt knotting hair. She'd obviously spent the night in ruins.

Draco sat pleasantly at the Slytherin table, testing his boundaries and wondering how his housemates were reacting. He was surprised, however to have very few insults shot his way about his relationship with the Head Girl.

Many greeted him as they always would, some shot him curious glances and others, like Goyle, even managed to openly accept his choice.

"So he just kissed you?" Lavender questioned breathlessly at the Gryffindor table. "He just ran up to at the lake's edge and kissed you?"

"Well he knew I was going to be there and he had an idea that I wanted him to –"

"Is he as flawless as everyone says?" Parvati asked, her voice as breathless as Lavender's.

"Completely so," Hermione replied, sounding sardonic even to her ears. "He's the best kisser to ever walk the earth."

Lavender and Parvati looked at each other excitedly and thoroughly breathless from her words. Apparently they had missed the mocking in Hermione's tone.

"I hope your speaking kindly of me, Granger," Draco's voice came from behind her. "I believe we have a study period to attend?"

"Study?" Lavender repeated, looking at him. "Surely not?"

"We, unlike you, Brown, find learning just as satisfying as you find Weasley's penis," Draco sneered.

Lavender frowned, obviously confused.

Draco looked at the girl incredulously. "Come on, Granger, we haven't got all morning…"

Hermione waved goodbye to the girls and gathered up her things.

"I thought we were going to see Professor McGonagall this morning?" she asked as they headed out of the Hall, people's eyes following them as they left.

Draco nodded. "Yes but after you went to bed last night, I found something that you might want to see…"


	17. Riddles

**Chapter Seventeen**

Draco rummaged through the books on the table in the study, obviously looking for one in particular.

"Did you find a map, Malfoy?" Hermione asked him, watching his stack of unwanted books build higher as he continued to rummage. "Did you find a map to the cottage?"

"No, Granger, but I do think we need to look more closely at that map the teachers found in Slytherin's study," Draco said. "I've been trying to find it for weeks…"

"Professor McGonagall never gave it to us," Hermione said lightly.

"What's the use in that?" Draco hissed as he continued to rummage, this time through a large stack of parchment. "McGonagall should have given it to us. She knew we were looking for the stone…"

"Malfoy, what is it that you're looking for?" Hermione pleaded. "Let me help."

"I'm –" Draco turned to look at her. "I'm looking for _The Darkest Art_."

"_The Darkest Art_?" Hermione repeated incredulously. "How could that possibly help us, Malfoy?"

"The book used to be Slytherin's," Draco stated absently. "He must have got when he was looking for ways to preserve his power."

"_And…?_" Hermione was growing impatient.

"Here it is," Draco said, picking it up. He headed into the common room with Hermione in his wake.

He flipped to the back of the book, where the cover leafing was peeling away. Peeling it back easily, he withdrew an old piece of parchment and handed it to Hermione.

Hermione stared at it with her mouth open. She cast Draco a curious look before she unfolded it. The parchment made a cracking sound and she sat it flat on the coffee table and read:

_In this word, four letters for you to choose  
To feel this word, it really must be true  
In one word this is merely just a __thing__  
But in three words, it's magic what it bringsTo find our treasure you must feel  
The magic word, though it must be real  
Hold out your hand and whisper thee:  
In three words, we'll forever be._

"In three words, we'll forever be," Hermione whispered the last line to herself and looked up at Draco. "This must be connected to the clues in the visions. This is the riddle itself."

"It's a pretty obvious one," Malfoy said. "It's obviously love."

"Well yes but to find the stone, you must _feel_ love," Hermione declared. "It's really quite clever because true love isn't something everyone can feel."

"So what do we do Granger?" Draco asked. "Find the cottage, work out where the damn thing is hidden, summon some true love and raise a hand and whisper 'we'll forever be'. That's sounds disgusting and ridiculous."

"Disgusting and ridiculous, Malfoy?" Hermione repeated in a snap. "It doesn't sound disgusting at all. It might sound rather ridiculous but it most certainly does _not_ sound disgusting."

"It sounds like something from one of those bloody romance novels of yours that I saw in the study a few weeks ago!" Draco sneered. "It _is_ bloody disgusting!"

Hermione flushed. "You had no right –"

"Merlin Granger, I read one chapter!" Draco snarled. "I hardly went through your things."

Hermione took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "That's quite alright," she sniffed, picking up the piece of parchment. "We best take this to Professor McGonagall. I'd like this out of the way so I can concentrate on revising for the NEWTs."

"Granger –" Draco started.

Hermione looked around. "Are you coming, Malfoy?"

Draco walked forward and headed out of the room with her. "I still think it sounds disgusting."

"That is your opinion," Hermione replied, smiling. "Though, I admit, I did not expect Salazar Slytherin to be that wimpy."

**_ooo_**

Professor McGonagall was, as always, pleased with their discovery. She hurriedly grabbed the map when Hermione mentioned that she believed there was a cottage in the forest and sure enough, the aging professor found it within moments.

"So you are done," McGonagall said. "The teachers will take over from here."

"But Professor," Hermione said pleadingly. "Draco and I have worked so hard on this and we're both so very curious about what might be found. _Please_ Professor…"

McGonagall studied the two shrewdly from behind her glasses. "Well I suppose, considering your involvement with the project…"

Hermione beamed and looked sideways at Draco, who had sat back in his chair, satisfied with her answer.

"We will not be able to enter the forest for another two weeks," McGonagall continued briskly. "I will not enter without Hagrid present –"

"But Hagrid's here, isn't he?" Draco questioned, sitting forward again.

"No," Hermione said, answering for McGonagall. "Hagrid's in France at the moment."

Draco just stared at her and as they were leaving, he turned to her.

"That oaf, in _France_?" he sneered. "Why is he in _France_?"

"He's preparing for his wedding with Madame Maxime of course," Hermione stated, grinning.

Draco stood absolutely dumbfounded for a moment before catching up with her on the stairs.

**_ooo_**

"Really, Draco, I would have thought that after all the teasing and hating you two would get together," Theodore Nott was saying as they stood outside the Transfiguration classroom. "Are you doing this just for the NEWTs? I mean the whole year would love to have Granger as their study partner at this time of the year…"

"Nott," Draco snarled. "I am with Granger because Merlin wanted it that way."

"Merlin? Surely you don't believe in that git?" Nott questioned. "I mean the guy was a complete joke!"

Draco rounded on him, an incredulous look covering his features. "I wasn't serious," he snarled. "I'm with her because I _want_ to be."

Behind them, a great sob echoed through the corridor; Pansy had obviously been listening.

"You know, Draco," Nott continued. Draco gritted his teeth in annoyance. "I don't really blame you. I mean when you look past the Mudblood thing and the fact she's a Gryffindor she's really quite attractive. I mean that chest of hers is just –"

"Nott, if you finish that sentence, you won't live to take the NEWTs," Draco snapped.

Nott fell silent. After a moment of awkward silence, the weasel-like boy looked around.

"Where do you think she is?"

"Where who is, Nott?" Draco snapped.

"McGonagall," Nott replied. "The bell went ten minutes ago."

"Maybe she finally –"

"This is your Headmistress," rang a voice from the overheard magical speaker system. "Would Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger please report to my office immediately. Could my class please proceed back to their common room; your lesson has been cancelled."

The Slytherins looked round at Draco, who shrugged and made for McGonagall's office. He met Hermione at the entrance. She looked nervous.

"You don't think something's gone wrong, do you?" she questioned, twisting her hands in front of her anxiously.

Draco shrugged and said the password. Silently, they headed up the revolving staircase to the office, where McGonagall sat at her desk.

She studied the two for a moment.

"In studying the riddle," she said, "I've noticed something that may cause difficulties."

Hermione looked at Draco before returning her gaze to the professor. "What sort of difficulties, Professor?"

"We do not have any two people who are capable of gaining access to the stone," McGonagall replied. "This riddle is clearly something Dumbledore would have appreciated and I'm afraid that although many staff members have partners who we love, we are not willing to bring them on our journey into the forest."

"What about Harry?" Hermione suggested. "He has been in the forest many times before and he has a lot of love within his heart. Let him bring Ginny along – they would surely gain access to the stone."

"I am not going to interrupt Harry Potter's current relaxed life, Miss Granger," McGonagall sniffed. Hermione slumped in her chair and nodded. "I have instead brought the two of you here to discuss the possibility that _you_ can acquire the stone together."

"Us?" Hermione said weakly. She looked at Draco.

"You two are in a relationship are you not?" McGonagall questioned testily.

Hermione and Draco stared at each other a moment.

"Yes, Professor," Hermione said, "we are. But I cannot know for sure if our relationship has progressed enough to break a powerful enchantment and grant access to Salazar Slytherin's power."

"Do you not love each other?" McGonagall asked testily.

Draco and Hermione stared at her with wide eyes and an open mouth, shocked at such a question.

"We –"

"I –"

"Well you see –"

"We can't quite answer that right now, Professor," Draco chimed in. He cast a glance Hermione's way.

McGonagall studied the two of them for a moment.

"Well when you can, Mr Malfoy," McGonagall told her, "come and see me. I don't think I need to inform you that this is rather an urgent matter?"

"Not at all, Professor," Draco replied.

When Hermione and Draco had left the office they headed silently back to the common room, where they found themselves staring at each other from across the room, thoughts running wildly through their heads.


	18. Uncertainty

**Chapter Eighteen**

"People's contribution to our relationship is becoming stranger by the day, Granger," Draco said as he revised his notes on Amortentia.

"Why do you say that?" Hermione asked. "Professor McGonagall had real reason to ask us that."

"Do teachers often ask you if you love me, Granger?" Draco drawled.

"Well, no," Hermione replied, "but it does cause difficulties not having someone who can break that enchantment, Malfoy. She had _real_ reason for asking."

"Nott was weird today too," Draco stated offhandedly. "Asking me all these questions about why I was with you."

"I've always found him weird though," Hermione said. "The other day in the library, he came over to borrow a book and he was staring at my stomach. It was very disconcerting."

"From what he was saying today, Granger, I'd say he was looking slightly higher than that," Draco smirked.

Hermione flushed. "Well that's even more disconcerting, thank you, Malfoy."

"Pass that book on Love Potions, Granger," Draco said.

Hermione obeyed and handed it to him, her brain processing thoughts that were totally unrelated to the notes in front of her.

**_ooo_**

"She asked whether you love him?" Ginny asked with raised eyebrows. "That's a bit personal, isn't it?"

Hermione shrugged and nodded.

"What did you say?" Ginny said, leaning forward.

"Nothing," Hermione replied. "I didn't know what to say."

"So you don't love him?" Ginny questioned.

"I don't know," Hermione said with another shrug. "It's much too soon to say; a week ago he and I weren't even together, we were still dancing around the subject thinking it would disappear eventually."

"I don't think you do love him then," Ginny announced. "I mean normally you would know."

Hermione nodded. "He told McGonagall we'd get back to her."

"Really?" Ginny said, her eyebrows rising into her fringe.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking at Ginny with a frown.

"Well Hermione, it seems that maybe Malfoy thinks…" she trailed off.

"What does Malfoy think, Ginny?" she asked, still frowning.

"Well it seems that maybe he thinks it's possible that you do love each other."

"How so?" Hermione asked, her stomach doing somersaults. "I mean he's as uncertain as I am…"

"That's true," Ginny nodded, "but he said he'd get back to her, almost like he thought that if he considered it hard enough he'd find that he did love you."

"But he can't speak for me, Ginny," Hermione said, shaking her head and trying not to think about it too much. "And it's silly really because I honestly don't think he loves me. It's been a week."

"Technically it's been all year, Hermione," Ginny said in response. "And that poem thing –"

"Riddle," Hermione corrected.

"Yes, the riddle," Ginny continued, rolling her eyes, "from what you explained about it, well, it really only says one of you have to feel love and say those words. Malfoy loving you might be enough for you to get that stone."

"Malfoy doesn't love me, Ginny," Hermione replied skeptically. "He's – well – he's _Malfoy_."

"And you're Hermione," Ginny said, grinning. "No one would have ever predicted you'd develop feelings for the git!"

Hermione smiled guiltily.

**_ooo_**

"Attention all students, Professors Flitwick and Sprout are required in my office immediately." McGonagall's voice ran through the halls. "Substitute teachers are currently on their way to relieve you. Could the Head Boy and Girl also excuse themselves from classes and attend this meeting also."

Hermione stood. She was currently in Charms with Professor Flitwick, who was already hurrying to the door on his short legs.

"After you, Miss Granger," he said, holding out an arm to guide her through the door.

"Thank you, Professor."

Together they silently hurried towards Professor McGonagall's office. Heading in, they knocked twice on the ornate doors and made their way in. Professor Sprout and Draco were already seated at the desk in front of McGonagall.

"Mr Malfoy has just informed me that he will undertake the task of gaining the stone," McGonagall said happily.

Hermione sharply turned to look at Draco; he was avoiding her gaze.

"I am still awaiting word from Hagrid regarding the day of his return," McGonagall continued. "He has unfortunately been quite vague regarding his exact return date. But no matter, I have brought you here to start devising a plan despite not knowing precisely when we will undertake our trip into the forest."

While the others nodded, Hermione continued to watch Draco. He was undertaking the task of gaining the stone. Did that mean what Hermione believed it meant? Surely Draco was mistaken? It is true that their feelings were quite strong at that point in time but love? Hermione honestly could not comprehend how such a thing could have happened.

"_Technically it's been all year, Hermione."_

Ginny's words rang in Hermione's ears and she only vaguely took in what the professors and Draco were saying. Looking away from Draco, she considered it herself. Throughout her entire relationship with Ron she had believed that she loved him, but she had also known him and admired him for years. Draco … Draco had been her enemy and although there had been several months of change, their relationship was still so new, still so unfamiliar.

"Miss Granger, I am sorry to interrupt your daydream but we are requesting that you listen," McGonagall snapped. Hermione looked up, startled.

"Yes," Hermione said. "Yes of course. Sorry Professor."

With one last glance at Draco, whose piecing grey eyes burned through her with a wild intensity, Hermione moved her gaze to the map on the desk and listened carefully to the plan that the group was developing.

**_ooo_**

Later that evening Hermione sat, trying to go over the plan in her head, though it proved unsuccessful. Looking up at Draco, she saw him staring at her from across the room as though he knew where her thoughts were traveling.

"Why did you –?"

"I'm not sure if I will succeed in getting that stone, Granger," Draco interrupted.

"Than why did you –?"

"Because the most we can do is try," Draco said. "You and I are both uncertain of exactly how deep and developed our feelings are. This will help me answer the question that's in my head."

"McGonagall won't be happy if it doesn't work, Malfoy…" Hermione stated carefully.

"I don't think it will matter," Draco said casually. "I honestly think that riddle needs more answers to be solved."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, frowning. "Why didn't you say something before?"

"Granger," Draco said, standing up and coming to sit beside her on the couch. "We worked out love was the answer ages ago, even without the words to the riddle. I mean, the vision told us as much…"

"Yes…" Hermione trailed off. "So you think the riddle runs deeper than that?"

"Feel love, hold out your hand and whisper 'we'll forever be'?" Draco said incredulously. "This is two of the greatest wizards to ever exist that we're talking about. You honestly think they'd make it this easy to find their power?"

Hermione looked at him. "Dumbledore would have thought it was ingenious," she said indignantly.

"Well I think it's not as easy as the riddle makes it out to be," Draco replied. "I think the riddle is more complicated than that."

Hermione nodded her understanding and pulled a piece of parchment towards her.

"_In this word, four letters for you to choose"_

Hermione read aloud. She thought about it for a moment.

"Well that would be L, O, V and E wouldn't it?

"_To feel this word, it really must be true._

"True love, right?

"_In one word this is merely just a_ thing

"Love. It needs more than just one word to mean something. Love is just love. 'I'm in love' means something…"

Hermione looked at Draco, he was watching her contently, nodding his head for her to continue.

"_But in three words, its magic what it brings_"

"I love you," Draco said with a shrug.

Hermione looked at him wildly.

"Granger, I meant 'I love you' is three words and it brings a feeling like magic to those involved, doesn't it?" Draco explained himself hurriedly.

"Well yes…"

"Just keep going, Granger,"

Hermione cleared her throat.

"_To find our treasure you must feel - the magic word, though it must be real._

"It has to be real. You can't fake it," Hermione defined. "Love is a unique thing; people are bound to fake it if they wanted Salazar Slytherin's power.

"_Hold out your hand and whisper thee: In three words, we'll forever be_."

"There are no quotation marks, Granger," Draco pointed out, indicating the words 'we'll forever be'.

"So what other three words have the same meaning?" Hermione questioned, staring at the words.

Draco merely shrugged.


	19. Mirror

**Chapter Nineteen**

Draco and Hermione waited at the edge of the forest for Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout and Hagrid. It was daybreak and the birds in the trees behind them were beginning to wake.

In the distance, they heard the front doors of the castle close and they looked at each other. The time had come.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other. Hermione felt suddenly nervous.

"We'll be fine, Granger," he said calmly, lightly rubbing her arm.

"What if we can't get the stone?" she asked anxiously. "What if the enchantment doesn't break? Might I remind you that you still don't know what three words to say when the time comes?"

"I have a feeling I do know, actually, Granger," Draco said, still remaining completely calm. "Now stop worrying."

He leant down and kissed her lightly. Hermione smiled sheepishly.

"We're not walking out without that stone," Draco said firmly.

Hermione nodded just as the teachers came around the lakes edge, looking into the forest.

"Good, we're all here," McGonagall said. She nodded to Draco and Hermione. "You have your wands?"

"Yes, Professor," Hermione replied lightly, holding hers up.

"We shall head in now," McGonagall instructed. "Hagrid, if you would please lead the way…"

"Certainly Professor," Hagrid said in his gruff voice, raising the crossbow he was holding. "Though, I mus' admit I haven't bin in this part o' the forest in a while…"

Hermione watched McGonagall and Sprout exchange worried glances.

As Hermione looked around, she wondered what it had been like for Harry the last time he had entered. She had heard him explain it on one occasion but he had been so vague about it. She knew that he had had the comfort of the resurrection stone with him at the time and knew that no harm had come to him on the way to the clearing where he had confronted Voldemort.

Beside her, Draco was looking around; he had told her earlier that morning that he had not stepped into the forest since first year when they had served detention together. He gave a slight jump when a bird left a tree close by and caused a strange sound. Hermione smiled at him, amused and grabbed his hand. It was Draco's turn to look sheepish.

"We're gonna have to stay on the path, Professors," Hagrid called. "I jus' saw somethin' moving over there by that stump."

"Whatever you feel is safest, Hagrid," McGonagall said, looking around carefully. "I don't mind if it takes us all day; I do not want to put or lives in danger."

"Wasn't she in Gryffindor?" Draco muttered to Hermione.

"Do you honestly want to wander off the path and meet some hideous beast, Malfoy?" Hermione hissed incredulously.

Draco looked alarmed at her suggestion.

"I didn't think so," Hermione stated with a shake of her head. "We Gryffindors are brave but we do not enjoy putting our lives at risk. That's what Slytherins are for."

"Because we're cunning and daring, right Granger?" Draco said contemptuously. "You don't honestly believe we all have that trait?"

"And you honestly believe all Gryffindors share the traits that are described?"

Draco fell silent and tightened his grip on her hand.

The forest grew dark after half an hour of walking. The trees were become more and more dense and after a while, not a single strand of light found its way through the trees' foliage. All their wands were lit, following the path ahead, making sure they did not lose each other.

In the front, Hagrid was reading the map, while looking around for movement that would indicate an attack. After nearly an hour and a half of uneventful walking, Hagrid came to an abrupt stop. He had his crossbow raised and ready to fire when a harsh growl sounded somewhere to the left.

It sounded very close.

Draco dropped Hermione's hand and held his wand in the hand that had been holding hers, raising it to waist height, pointing in the direction of the noise. Hermione's hand sprung up and pulled his wand down, knowing that the light would cause the creature to attack, and sure enough, it growled once more and bounded forwards.

They all raised their wands and shone it in the direction of the beast. They could really only make out its silhouette.

"I've got it!" Hagrid growled and he pulled the trigger on the crossbow, hitting the beast fair in the chest. It keeled over instantly.

Hermione, stunned, looked at Hagrid.

"Manticore," he said. "It got loose during a lesson four years ago. This ain't their natural habitat so it should be the only one."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, looking sideways at Draco. "Why did you shine the light at it? Didn't you know it would've made it attack?"

"No, Granger, I didn't," he said plainly.

"Not much further and we'll have to move off the path," Hagrid called. "We're almos' there!"

They walked for a further five minutes before Hagrid lead them into the trees. They had to carefully watch for roots and debris as they followed the giant of a man guiding them. Hermione nearly tripped three times before grabbing a firm hold on Draco's hand and letting him guide her.

After what felt like another hour, they reached a clearing. They watched Hagrid as he examined the map, waiting to be led in the next direction.

"We're 'ere," Hagrid called uncertainly. "The cottage should be 'ere."

"Of course," McGonagall whispered. "Of course there'd be enchantments."

The professors all raised their wands and started walking around the clearing, whispering charms and enchantments to the thin air. Slowly, a cottage materialized in the middle of the clearing.

Hermione had imagined it to be a ruin by now, a thousand years having past since its owners lived, but it seemed that there was a charm upon it that stopped it from aging; it looked newly built despite the old fashioned materials it was built with.

The professors each headed to the door, while Hagrid started patrolling, his crossbow raised.

"Well go on in, you two!" Hagrid called gruffly.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other before heading to the door also.

McGonagall nodded as she turned the handle and the door creaked open. One by one they filed in and Hermione was automatically reminded of the year previous; it had the same magic their old tent had. Although appearing small on the outside, the inside of it was monstrous. To their right there was what appeared to be a kitchen larger than any Hermione had ever seen before (except for perhaps Hogwarts). Whereas to the left and beyond, in an entirely open design, stood a living area and a bedroom. Hermione noticed a closed off room in the far right corner and she presumed that it must be the bathroom.

All the furniture was ornate and antique. Hermione knew that they must be charmed also as, even after not being used for so many years, they should have aged in some manner. There was also very little dust. The place was in perfect condition.

"Where do you think the stone is?" Hermione asked. She stopped suddenly when she noticed the cradle by the window, recognizing it automatically from the one in the memory.

Draco shrugged and walked slowly around like the other teachers were doing. "You once told me a story about a mirror, Granger," he said after a moment, catching sight of the mirror they had seen Rowena brushing her hair in front of. "You called it –"

"The Mirror or Erised," Hermione finished for him, heading over to the mirror. "It is a mirror that shows your true desire."

"It is a mirror that was created by Rowena Ravenclaw," Draco said. Hermione looked at him, surprised. Draco went on to explain, the teachers watching them. "After you told me about it, I did some research and I found that Rowena Ravenclaw was a dreamer. Before she founded Hogwarts with Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, she had desires that she believed would never come to pass. So she developed a mirror. It didn't turn out the way she wanted it to, though. She had wanted it to make her dreams come true, not just to show them."

Hermione headed over the mirror and stared at her own reflection. She hadn't quite expected her reflection to change, but she felt quite disappointed when it didn't.

"We're drawing conclusions out of thin air again, Granger," Draco said. "We can't expect to be right every time."

"But I think you've got a point, Malfoy!" Hermione cried. "Rowena Ravenclaw had a likeness for mirrors, she would have been the one to ultimately hide the stone after Salazar Slytherin's death. That mirror was in that memory for a reason, Malfoy…"

"The cradle was in it, too and I can't think of a reason why –"

"The memory with the cradle showed the forest outside, Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed. "I think that was most certainly the reason it was part of the memory."

"Okay, okay," Draco snapped.

He and Hermione stared at each other for a moment. The time had come. It was time for them to try and gain access to the stone. Hermione walked towards him and grabbed hold of his hand, suddenly oblivious to the professors who were watching them.

Hermione leant up and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "That potion didn't work properly for a reason, Draco."

It was the first time she had deliberately used his first name to his face and it was also the first time she realised the significance that day in potions may truly have had.

Draco looked into her eyes and nodded before walking over to the mirror, starring at his own reflection. He pulled Hermione close to his side so she was also reflected within the flawless glass.

"I love you," he told her reflection.

Hermione watched, mesmerized, as there reflections suddenly moved closer together. And with a kiss, Hermione's reflection placed a platinum silver stone within Draco's reflection's hand.


	20. Prize

**Chapter Twenty**

Draco and Hermione, in unison, looked away from the mirror and down at Draco's hand. With a swirl of his fingers Draco felt the familiarity surface and clenched it sight.

It felt oddly warm.

"Goodness me," McGonagall said, sounding breathless as she hurried forward. "How very surprising – Dumbledore – He –"

"Yes Professor," Hermione said, looking at the elderly witch. "Dumbledore used the same idea for hiding the Philosophers Stone."

"Surely he wouldn't have known?" McGonagall questioned incredulously. "Known and not told anyone?"

"Dumbledore had always been mysterious, Professor," Hermione smiled. "But he was an endlessly powerful and clever wizard. I would not be surprised if this is a mere coincidence."

"Well this is true," McGonagall said, taking the stone from Draco's hand and placing it in a velvet bag that she pulled from her pocket. "Shall we be going then?"

Draco and Hermione nodded, pleased to have finally come to the conclusion of their research.

"What do you plan on doing with the stone, Professor?" Draco asked as they headed back into the clearing.

"We will have it carefully examined," McGonagall replied. "I daresay we shall not unleash Slytherin power."

Hermione smiled at Draco, who looked thoroughly disappointed at this news.

As the teachers stood with Hagrid as they left the clearing, Hermione hung back with Draco so they could talk privately.

"It seems you got your answer," she said, looking at him closely.

Draco did not move his eyes from its place straight ahead. "Yes Granger, I suppose I did."

"Were you surprised?" she asked attentively.

"Surprised that 'we'll forever be' is the equivalent to 'I love you'?" Draco considered for a moment while Hermione sighed exasperatedly. "No not really. That riddle could have been harder though. I mean _really_ –"

"_Malfoy_," Hermione interrupted, drawing the word out long to make it evident she was annoyed.

"We'll talk about it later, Granger." Draco kept his eyes cast ahead at the teachers and Hermione fell silent.

The trek to the cottage had seemed long and tiresome but the walk back thankfully seemed much shorter in comparison. In reaching to the edge of the forest, Draco and Hermione fell back even further as they headed back to the castle.

"You think they'll ask us to produce that publication you've been dying to do, Granger?" Draco smirked as they headed into the Great Hall for lunch.

"It will be on shelves by Christmas!" Hermione announced before laughing happily.

Ginny noticed them and waved them over to the Gryffindor table. Hermione noticed Ron watching them before hurrying to get up and leave. It seemed he wasn't ready to accept that Hermione's replacement for him was someone they had hated since they were eleven.

"You're smiling," Ginny acknowledged when they arrived. "Does that mean you got it? You got the last stone?"

"Yes," Hermione said happily. She looked at Harry. "You won't believe how we got it…"

"Malfoy declared his love to you?" Ginny asked looking from Hermione and back to Draco expectantly. Draco stared avidly at the teacher's table.

Hermione did not move her gaze from Harry who was examining her face intensely. "A mirror? But that's what Dumbledore did with the Philosophers Stone … Surely he didn't _know_?"

Ginny's mouth dropped open in amazement. "How can you know anything by just looking at her, Harry?"

"You do it all the time, Ginny," Harry replied, grinning widely at Hermione.

"I can read emotions, not _whole explanations!_" Ginny exclaimed in wonder. "Please explain on my behalf!"

"Rowena Ravenclaw's mirror worked the same way the Mirror of Erised did in giving Harry the Philosopher's Stone," Hermione enlightened her friend. "Only a person who was truly in love could receive Salazar Slytherin's power stone."

Harry and Ginny gazed at Draco for a moment. He was still deliberately avoiding their gazes and the discussion.

"It was amazing!" Hermione cried, a smile wide on her face. "It was a random theory we suddenly thought of and we tried it. And … and it _worked_."

"So where's the stone now?" Harry inquired.

"McGonagall has it," Hermione said, her smile falling slightly. "She wants to have tests run on it."

"Well that's important," Ginny said seriously. "Salazar Slytherin was never the most … _innocent_ of the founders. That stone could be terribly dangerous."

Hermione shrugged and looked at Draco, who hadn't said a thing since they had come over. She knew he wasn't overly comfortable around Harry and Ginny; he had blatantly refused at becoming their friend (which Hermione was not surprised about; Harry and Ginny certainly weren't opening up their arms to him after all).

"So now you've got time to help me with the NEWT revision!" Harry's voice floated to her ears and she returned her gaze to him.

"Oh – yes," Hermione replied, smiling once more. "We'll make study timetables tonight if you want."

Harry cast a look of dread Ginny's way.

"Don't worry, Harry, I'll leave time for snogging sessions! Or is it shagging sessions now?"

Harry turned beet red and turned to Ginny, who was suddenly very interested in her avocado.

**_ooo_**

That night, Harry, Draco and Ginny sat in the common room. The silence was quite awkward as Hermione poked and prodded a piece of paper, devising NEWT revision sessions for Harry. Harry and Draco had just finished a heated argument about who was the better seeker statistically.

"Boys and Quidditch," Ginny had cried when the argument got too heated for her liking. "Really, I could've joined that argument; I think I'm the better seeker compared to both of you! I've certainly got bigger balls!"

Hermione did not know where Male genitalia came into the discussion the boys were having, but it had a desired effect; both boys seized talking immediately.

Ginny grinned and knelled down beside Hermione, drawing her own wand to help her.

"If you ever want to stop a major male ego fight, Hermione," Ginny said enthusiastically, "either threaten their fertility or suggest that they don't have the right bits anyway."

Hermione laughed, poking her wand at a square labeled seven o'clock.

"Done," she said, handing the timetable over to Harry.

Harry took and looked at it. "Thanks, Hermione," he said. He looked intently at Ginny for a moment. When the pretty redhead grinned and nodded slowly, Harry stood. "We'll see you later."

Harry glared down at Draco before he and Ginny left Draco and Hermione to themselves.

Hermione immediately rounded on Draco. "Are you ready to discuss today yet?" she questioned, sitting up beside him on the couch.

Draco took her hand in his but did not respond. He was staring at the fire, deep in thought.

Hermione relaxed against him and copied his actions, going over the year in her head. She wondered if she and Ron would ever be the same friends they had before their relationship, she wondered if Draco would ever turn back into the person she had hated. Hermione could confidently answer no to both of those ponderings.

Feeling Draco shift beside her, she looked at him, only to see him grab one of Salazar's stones from the coffee table in front of them.

"Future or memories?" he asked quietly.

"Memories," Hermione said, already knowing enough of her future to keep her content.

Draco waved the stone across the vase that sat on the coffee table. As it was already filled with water, the memory appeared before them immediately.

They saw themselves standing before their own reflections, affection in each of their eyes as their reflections acted on their own accord. As the Draco in the memory opened his mouth to speak the words Hermione looked away and instead at the Draco beside her, who was considering the memory with interest.

"It really happened then," Draco said lightly.

Hermione nodded. "You got the answer to your question."

"Don't get used to it, Granger," Draco said, smirking at her. "I may be a changed man but I am not a man who whispers 'forever' a thousand times while kissing you."

Hermione gaped at him. "I thought you said you only read one chapter!"

They fell silent again and Hermione snuggled into him. They hadn't really done this – they usually kept some distance and merely enjoyed each other's company. However, Draco did not protest. He instead willingly removed his hand from hers and replaced it around her shoulders.

"You have one word to describe what this is, Granger," Draco said suddenly. "It could be anything: passing, crazy, adventure…"

"In one word?" Hermione asked, looked at him and frowned. "I think today pretty much clarifies what this is, Malfoy."

"Say it."

"Love," Hermione whispered. "My answer is 'love'."

"Then in three?"

"Love that's crazy?"

Draco sighed. "In one word, I call this a prize."

"That's two words, Malfoy," Hermione laughed.

"Well in three then," Draco muttered, disgruntled. He softly kissed her cheek and leaned into her ear to whisper, "_You're my prize_."


	21. Eighteen Years Later

**Eighteen Years Later**

"Dad? Dad? Why's mum over with that Hairy man?" Young Scorpius Malfoy asked his father as they made towards the scarlet red steam train that would be taking him to his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"His name is Harry," Draco smirked to his son. "Or _Potter_ if you prefer."

"I don't like him," Scorpius sneered. "He scares me. Why is mum talking to him?"

"You know they're friends, son," Draco smirked. "Besides, here she comes now…"

"I can't believe how much hair Ron has lost!" Hermione Malfoy cried as she approached her waiting family. "It's quite a worry…"

"Why worry? You have a husband with a wonderful head of hair, Granger," Draco drawled, running his hand through his hair, which was still the same platinum blonde it had been when he was younger. Both he and Hermione doubted that he'd had a single strand of it fall loose and never re-grow. "Maybe he's earning extra money testing muggle shampoo."

"Draco, you know very well that Ron is not the poor boy he was in school," Hermione chided, looking around the crowded train platform. "Now where is Aurora?"

"She's already gone off with that James Potter," Draco hissed. "Do we really have to encourage her to hang around with Potter and Weasley's kids?"

"I will not have my children associating with the Zabini children, Draco!" Hermione cried. "Those children are very disrespectful – I'd prefer my children to not turn into that."

"Granger, I'll have you know I often hung around with Blaise and I turned out perfectly fine," Draco stated with a sneer ready to bite. "Aurora is in third year. That's the year –"

"I think James is very worthy of her affection, Draco."

"Granger, my only daughter is _not_ –"

"Oh I see you haven't broken your word at all, Malfoy." Ginny had come over to see Hermione again, wanting to escape the boys discussion of the muggle vehicles they would like to purchase. Grinning, she put on a deep voice to imitate Draco. "_'Even in the throws of passion, I'll still call her Granger'_."

Hermione looked at Draco, eyebrows raised. Draco merely smirked.

**The End **


End file.
